Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

Thames Freeport: DP World

Navendu Mishra: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department made an assessment of DP World's record on workers' rights before approving the decision to allow that company to co-run the Thames Freeport.

Dehenna Davison: The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Investment Zones: Ellesmere Port

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to the Answer of 24 March 2023 to Question 170641 on Investment Zones: Ellesmere Port, if he will set out what alternative funding sources are available for the Ellesmere Port industrial area.

Dehenna Davison: The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Investment Zones: Ellesmere Port

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to the Answer of 24 March 2023 to Question 17064 on Investment Zones: Ellesmere Port, if he will set out the specific reasons behind the decision not to proceed with Ellesmere Port industrial area as an investment zone, including any scoring or ranking applied to the Ellesmere Port investment zone bid.

Dehenna Davison: The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

CP Plus

Valerie Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what information his Department holds on the parking charge notice practices of CP Plus Limited.

Dehenna Davison: The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities: Telephone Services

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what discussions he has had with Target on the payment of bonuses to its staff in relation to the operation of contracts for telephony services for his Department.

Dehenna Davison: The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Homes England: Redundancy

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department has received a request from Homes England to run a redundancy scheme.

Dehenna Davison: The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Members: Correspondence

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, when he will respond to the correspondence of 16 January 2023 from the Rt. Hon. Member for Garston and Halewood.

Lee Rowley: I apologise for the delay in responding to the Rt. Hon. Member's correspondence. The department attaches great importance to the effective and timely handling of correspondence from Honourable Members. A response was issued on 30 March 2023.

High Rise Flats: Insulation

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he has had recent discussions with RailPen on fixing the cladding issues at (a) Cardinal Lofts in Ipswich and (b) Timblebeck in Leeds.

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the impact of leaseholders who do not qualify for support for the remediation of cladding and fire safety defects and who cannot meet their share of the cost of those works on the progress of the remediation of those buildings.

Lee Rowley: The Department are undertaking legal action against Grey GR, a subsidiary of Railpen.The Department wrote to Grey GR regarding Cardinal Lofts and Timblebeck in November 2022 and February 2023, and again regarding Cardinal Lofts in March 2023, concerning the safety of residents. Departmental officials last met with Railpen officials today.A copy of the Secretary of State’s correspondence will be placed in the Library of the House.Building owners are legally responsible for making sure their buildings are safe. Should the residents of an unsafe building need to be evacuated, the Government expects building owners to provide suitable alternative accommodation until residents can return home, at the building owner's expense, and for the building to be remediated.Regarding non-qualifying leaseholders we continue to monitor closely the remediation of all buildings in receipt of public funding, such as from the Building Safety Fund. For those buildings where the developer or freeholder have agreed to remediate, no costs should be attributable to leaseholders, whether qualifying or non-qualifying for other costs. Parliament determined a way forward on this matter in 2022 which we continue to monitor.

Leasehold

Sir Charles Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he plans to bring forward legislative proposals to allow leaseholders to buy the freehold of their property; and if he will make a statement.

Rachel Maclean: The Government wishes to extend the benefits of freehold ownership to more homeowners.That is why we have committed to end the sale of new leasehold houses, and to reinvigorate commonhold so it can finally be a genuine alternative to leasehold. We will make it easier for leaseholders to purchase the freehold of their building, and take control of their building, by enhancing enfranchisement and the Right to Manage.We will set out our next steps in due course.

Derelict Land: Bolton

Yasmin Qureshi: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what discussions he has had with Bolton Council on the Brownfield Land Release Fund.

Rachel Maclean: Local authorities are encouraged to engage with the Brownfield Land Release Fund through discussions with their One Public Estate Partnership.

Evictions

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what plans he has to abolish section 21 of the Housing Act 1988.

Fleur Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what progress he has made on ending Section 21 evictions.

Rachel Maclean: I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave in Oral Parliamentary Questions on 27 March 2023 (Official Report, HC, Volume 730, Column 642).

Housing: Insulation

Matthew Pennycook: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, when he plans to launch the full medium-rise scheme to provide funding to remediate or mitigate unsafe external wall systems on buildings between 11 to 18m in height where the developer of a building cannot be traced or identified.

Lee Rowley: I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave to Question UIN 170716 on 29 March 2023.

Homelessness: Birmingham

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department plans to take to tackle homelessness in Birmingham.

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he plans to increase funding for homeless shelters in Birmingham.

Felicity Buchan: I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave to Question UIN 167159 on 23 March 2023.Night shelters in Birmingham have also been allocated £301,000.00 from the Night Shelter Transformation Fund 2022-25. This multiyear fund provides faith and community groups with resource to provide self-contained emergency accommodation for rough sleepers.

Council Tax: Disability

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether alternative provision to the Council Tax Disabled Band Reduction Scheme is available for people whose homes have been adapted for use as a result of their disability and who do not meet the criteria for structural changes to a property under the Council Tax (Reduction for Disabilities) Regulations 1992.

Lee Rowley: The disabled band reduction scheme lowers the council tax band for those householders who, as a result of the disability of one or more occupants, have to create specific facilities in at least one separate room to meet the needs of that individual.Under section 13A of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, local councils have discretion to provide their own council tax discounts where they consider it appropriate.

Home Office

Counter-terrorism: Public Places

David Warburton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions her Department has had with the National Association of Local Councils on the potential impact of introducing a Protect Duty which requires public venues to protect against the risk of terrorism on parish and town councils.

Tom Tugendhat: Martyn’s Law, formerly known as the Protect Duty, will be published as a draft Bill for pre-legislative scrutiny this Spring. During the development of this Bill, extensive engagement across all sectors including Local Authorities has taken place.The Protect Duty consultation received 2,755 responses, during which the Home Office held over 80 engagement events. More recently, a webinar on Martyn’s Law geared specifically towards the public sector was attended by over 2000 individuals, the majority from Local Authorities. Engagement will continue throughout pre-legislative scrutiny and beyond.

Counter-terrorism: Public Places

David Warburton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department plans to take to (a) support and (b) provide funding for parish and town councils to help them comply with the proposed Protect Duty which would require public venues to protect against the risk of terrorism.

Tom Tugendhat: Martyn’s Law, formerly known as the Protect Duty, will be published as a draft Bill for pre-legislative scrutiny this Spring. Alongside this, the Home Office will publish an impact assessment and a further, updated, impact assessment will be completed prior to formal introduction of the Bill as parliamentary time allows. The Home Office will also undertake a new burdens assessment and assess any requirements arising from it.A wealth of support, advice and guidance will be provided for all those captured by Martyn’s Law, should it be passed. This is currently in development and will be published prior to any Royal Assent. ProtectUK has been developed as the new online protective security hub, offering advice and guidance from trusted experts in policing and Counter Terrorism security. The platform is available to industry and the public and will be updated regularly with added information and increased functionality.

Visas: Afghanistan

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether it is her Department's policy that Afghans eligible for visas under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy scheme must have secured accommodation in the UK secured before leaving Pakistan; and if she will make a statement.

Robert Jenrick: The cost of accommodating those resetting under the ACRS or ARAP, whilst they await permanent accommodation, is estimated at £1 million a day. We don’t want to see Afghan families in temporary accommodation for any longer than is necessary – and we have been working as fast as possible to support Afghan families into homes of their own, so that they can settle into their local communities, feel safe and independent and rebuild their lives in the UK. The Prime Minister’s statement on illegal migration on 13 December 2022 set out his ambition to end the use of hotels as temporary accommodation. We continue to work with partners to secure sufficient suitable accommodation for new arrivals. We will also arrange travel for any beneficiaries under the ACRS or ARAP who can be supported to arrange their own accommodation in the UK ahead of arrival. The Government is working with c.350 local authorities across the UK, to meet the demand for housing. Over 9,000 people have been supported into settled accommodation (This breaks down as c.8,500 moved into homes with an additional c.500 matched but not yet moved).

Asylum: Interviews

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications for asylum from people who applied before July 2022 from (a) Afghanistan, (b) Eritrea, (c) Libya, (d) Syria and (e) Yemen her Department plans to consider without a face-to-face interview.

Robert Jenrick: The Prime Minister pledged to clear the backlog of the 92,601 initial asylum decisions relating to claims made before 28 June 2022 (“legacy claims”) by the end of 2023. From 23 February, legacy claims from nationals of Afghanistan, Eritrea, Libya, Syria and Yemen will normally be considered through the Streamlined Asylum Process.Questionnaires have been issued to claimants in scope who have not yet been substantively interviewed. Where further information is required after the questionnaire is returned we will conduct an additional interview to obtain the necessary information as is current practice. All claimants have a face-to-face interview when they register their asylum claim. At this stage they also provide their biometric information to enable the Home Office to conduct identity and security checks.

Human Trafficking: English Channel

Stephen Kinnock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much funding was provided to the National Crime Agency to tackle cross-channel people smuggling in (a) 2021-22, (b) 2022-23 and (c) 2023-24.

Robert Jenrick: We are unable to provide a breakdown of NCA budgets or priorities.

Migrant Workers: Exploitation

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the report by the University of Nottingham entitled Understanding risks of exploitation for vulnerable migrant workers in the UK during Covid-19 published July 2021, what assessment she has made of the impact for her policies of that report's finding on the number of labour inspectors per 10,000 workers and the International Labour Organisation's guidelines.

Robert Jenrick: The Home Office are responsible for the resourcing of the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA). We regularly assess funding of the GLAA. The Director of Labour Market Enforcement has a statutory responsibility to assess the scale and nature of non-compliance in the labour market. Her 2022-23 strategy was recently published and sets out her assessment of the risks in the labour market and for vulnerable workers. Over the decade from 2010 to 2020 the UK funding to the labour market enforcement bodies (HMRC’s National Minimum Wage Team, Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate and Gangmasters Labour Abuse Authority) has increased to over £35 Million representing a 121% increase in funding.

Visas: Seasonal Workers

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 27 March 2023 to Question 171512 on Visas: Seasonal Workers and with reference to the removal of AG Recruitment & Management Ltd's licence, which sponsor duties that company was found to be in breach of.

Robert Jenrick: The Home Office revoked the sponsor licence for AG Recruitment which was found to be in breach of the agreed sponsor duties. Due to commercial sensitivities, the Home Office cannot specify the sponsor duties of which AG Recruitment was found to be in breach. Details of the sponsors’ duties and compliance regulations with the relevant annexes can be found at: Part 3: Sponsor duties and compliance (publishing.service.gov.uk).

Stop and Search: Greater Manchester

Navendu Mishra: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many stop-and-searches were carried out in Greater Manchester in 2022; and what proportion of these were carried out on people of Black and Minority Ethnicity.

Chris Philp: The Home Office collects and publishes data on stop and search on an annual basis. The most recent data, for the year ending March 2022, is available here:Police powers and procedures: Stop and search and arrests, England and Wales, year ending 31 March 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)In the year ending March 2022, there were 9,642 stop and searches carried out by Greater Manchester Police. Excluding vehicle searches and searches where the person’s self-defined ethnicity was unknown, 30% of these stop and searches were of people from minority ethnic backgrounds (excluding white minorities).Data for the year ending March 2023 is due to be published in autumn 2023.

Durham Constabulary

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her Departments press release of 27 March 2023 entitled Action plan to crack down on anti-social behaviour, how much funding she plans to allocate to Durham Constabulary.

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Anti-Social Behaviour Action Plan, published on 27 March 2023, how many additional police officers she plans to allocate to Durham Constabulary.

Chris Philp: On 27 March we published the Anti-Social Behaviour Action Plan. The plan commits to tackling anti-social behaviour across five key themes: stronger punishment; making communities safer; building local pride; prevention and early intervention; and improving data, reporting and accountability for action.This plan is backed by over £160m funding. This includes up to £60m to fund an increased police and other uniformed presence to clamp down on anti-social behaviour, targeting hotspots. Initially we will work with 10 police force areas, including Durham, but from 2024 will support a hotspot approach across every police force area in England and Wales, which will see thousands of additional patrols taking place in places blighted by anti-social behaviour.We are also delivering up to £50m to support the provision of Immediate Justice, by issuing out of court disposals with conditions to swiftly repair any damage – the aim being for them to start within 48 hours of the offence. This will start in 10 initial police force areas, including Durham, and be rolled out nationally from 2024.Durham Constabulary has recruited 175 additional uplift officers against a total three-year allocation of 225 officers, as at 31 December 2022.

Anti-social Behaviour: Alcoholic Drinks

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how her proposals for tackling anti-social behaviour will address alcohol-related (a) domestic and (b) community violence.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Anti-Social Behaviour Action Plan, published on 27 March 2023, whether she is taking steps with Cabinet colleagues to help ensure that local authorities participate in safer neighbourhood partnerships.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what funding will be provided for the Anti-Social Behaviour Action Plan, published on 27 March 2023.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how she will decide which areas host pilots of hot spot policing.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Anti-Social Behaviour Action Plan, published on 27 March 2023, what funding will be provided for additional police patrols in (a) parks and (b) other areas.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the Anti-Social Behaviour Action Plan, published on 27 March 2023, on levels of domestic violence.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Anti-Social Behaviour Action Plan, published on 27 March 2023, whether her Department plans to take steps to implement hot spot policing if requested by a local community.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Anti-Social Behaviour Action Plan, published on 27 March 2023, what steps she plans to take to share (a) evidence and (b) best practice on (i) police responses and (ii) other measures to tackle anti-social behaviour.

Chris Philp: The Government is committed to tackling and preventing anti-social behaviour (ASB). We know the serious impact that persistent ASB can have on both individuals and the wider community.On 27 March we published the ASB Action Plan. The ASB Action Plan commits to tackling ASB across five key themes: stronger punishment, making communities safer, building local pride, prevention and early intervention, improving data, reporting and accountability for action. Cracking down on anti-social behaviour works in tandem with this government’s priorities to prevent more murders, drive down violent crime, including against women and girls, and burglaries.This plan is backed by £160m of funding. This includes up to £60m to fund an increased police and other uniformed presence to clamp down on anti-social behaviour, targeting hotspots. Initially we will work with 10 police force areas, but from 2024 will support a hotspot approach across every police force area in England and Wales, which will see thousands of additional patrols taking place in places blighted by anti-social behaviour. It will be for the relevant Police and Crime Commissioners to determine the allocation of spending within their areas,.The areas have been chosen to ensure that those areas with the greatest need when it came to tackling anti-social behaviour were able to benefit from pilot funding while ensuring there was sufficient geographical spread to allow the pilots to provide evidence for its likely impact across all of England and Wales. There will be up to £5m to boost investment in green spaces in areas most in need, restoring parks and green spaces, giving more people access and improving pride in place.We are on target to recruit 20,000 additional police officers by the end of March 2023. However, tackling anti-social behaviour is not just a police matter. It requires a strong and effective partnership response from all agencies working together to drive down anti-social behaviour. The measures we have outlined in the plan ensure the police, local authorities and other agencies have a wide range of powers and tools to deal with every situation of anti-social behaviour that may arise.One of the commitments outlined in the Beating Crime Plan was to establish the principles required for a strong and effective partnership response to anti-social behaviour, working with PCCs, local authorities and other partners to help set expectations for local agencies, so that they work together to address ASB issues, including dealing with persistent offenders. This was published in July 2022.We provided the police, local authorities and other local agencies with a range of flexible tools and powers that they can use to respond quickly and effectively to ASB through the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 including closure orders if there are reasonable grounds that the use of a particular premises has resulted or is likely to result in nuisance to members of the public and the notice is necessary to prevent the nuisance or disorder from continuing, recurring or occurring.We have an ambitious programme of activity underway to tackle alcohol-related crime and work with police and licensing stakeholders to ensure thriving and safe night-time economies. We are piloting a training programme to help frontline practitioners identify where alcohol misuse and domestic abuse are co-occurring and to facilitate greater join-up with GPs and police.In March 2022, we published the cross-Government Tackling Domestic Abuse Plan. The Plan will seek to transform the whole of society’s response in order to prevent offending, support victims and pursue perpetrators, as well as to strengthen the systems processes in place needed to deliver these goals.The Plan invests over £230 million of cross-Government funding into tackling this heinous crime. This includes over £140 million for supporting victims and over £81 million for tackling perpetrators.Some of the commitments we have delivered to date includes:Publishing a set of tools to measure the effectiveness of interventions that support children of domestic abuse.Doubling the funding for the National Domestic Abuse Helpline, and increasing funding for all the national helplines.Published the Women’s Health Strategy.Introduced commissioning standards across all victim support services through the Victims Funding Strategy.We have published research reports alongside the ASB Action Plan. The findings from the research highlight evidence and best practice examples. We expect local partners to work together to deliver a multi-agency approach to tackling anti-social behaviour and delivering the proposals set out in this plan. We will oversee the implementation and delivery of this action plan with a new Anti-social Behaviour Taskforce.

Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps

Fleur Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has made an assessment of whether the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) fulfils the criteria under the Terrorism Act 2006 for a terrorist organisation.

Tom Tugendhat: While the UK Government keeps the list of proscribed organisations under review, we do not routinely comment on whether an organisation is or is not being considered for proscription.The UK Government has long been clear about our concerns over the malign activity of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The UK maintains sanctions on over 300 Iranian individuals and entities covering human rights abuses, nuclear proliferation and terrorism. The Government has also imposed sanctions on the IRGC in its entirety and on several senior security and political figures in Iran, including senior commanders within the IRGC and its Basij force. The Government will continue to hold Iran and the IRGC to account.

Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps

Fleur Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment her Department has made of the threat posed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to (a) the UK and its interests in the Middle East and (b) Iranians critical of the regime in the UK.

Tom Tugendhat: We do not routinely comment on operational or intelligence matters, however the UK will always stand up to threats from foreign nations.As I announced in my statement to the House on the 20 February, HMG have responded to 15 credible threats to kidnap or even kill UK-based individuals by the Iranian regime. We continually assess potential threats in the UK, and will continue to take the protection of individuals’ rights, freedoms, and safety in the UK very seriously.The UK Government has been clear about its continued concerns over destabilising activity of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in the UK and overseas. This includes IRGC political, financial and military support to a number of militant and proscribed groups in the region, including Hizballah in Lebanon and Syria, militias in Iraq and the Houthis in Yemen. The UK already sanctions the IRGC in its entirety and on the 20 March, 7 further individuals were sanctioned.In concert with partners, the Home Office is leading work on countering Iranian-state threats, making use of the full breadth and expertise of the government and our extraordinary and courageous police, security, and intelligence agencies.

BGI Group

Henry Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of (a) scientists and (b) postgraduate students barred from working in the UK in 2023 on national security grounds are associated with BGI Group.

Tom Tugendhat: We do not publicly comment on matters of national security.

Illegal Migration Bill

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she plans to publish an impact statement on the Illegal Migration Bill.

Robert Jenrick: We will publish an equality impact assessment and economic impact assessment in respect of the Illegal Migration Bill in due course.

BGI Group

Henry Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the National Protective Security Authority is taking steps to provide guidance to (a) businesses and (b) universities on dealing with BGI Group.

Tom Tugendhat: The National Protective Security Authority, with the National Cyber Security Centre, have developed the Trusted Research campaign to help academia make the most of international collaborations, by informing them of the threat and helping them to make sensible decisions about research and research partners.More recently they also developed the Secure Innovation campaign which is focused on helping new start-ups in the emerging and critical technology sectors to better protect themselves and, think carefully about their partners and investment.We will continue to work with NPSA to support industry and academia.

Asylum

Derek Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum seekers have been placed in each (a) constituency and (b) English local authority area in each month since 1 April 2022.

Robert Jenrick: The latest published Immigration Statistics detail the number of asylum seekers accommodated in each local authority area. These statistics can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/asylum-and-resettlement-datasets#asylum-support(opens in a new tab) Data is published on a quarterly basis, with the latest information published 23 February 2023.

Embassies: India

Dawn Butler: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the (a) security incident at the Indian High Commission on 19 March 2023 and (b) response of the police to that incident.

Tom Tugendhat: The right to gather lawfully and demonstrate a point of view is a basic democratic right. But rights to lawful protest do not extend to violent or threatening behaviour. The criminal damage and assaults on staff from the India High Commission at the incident over the weekend was unacceptable. The police have powers to deal with such acts. However, the use of these powers is an operational matter for the police, and decisions on possible criminal proceedings will be made in conjunction with the Crown Prosecution Service.The UK takes its Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations security obligations seriously. Our protective security system is rigorous and proportionate. However, it is our long-standing policy not to provide detailed information on diplomatic security arrangements. To do so could compromise the integrity of those arrangements and affect the security of the individuals and locations concerned.

Illegal Migration Bill

Sir Robert Buckland: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she plans to publish an impact statement for the Illegal Migration Bill.

Robert Jenrick: We will publish an equality impact assessment and economic impact assessment in respect of the Illegal Migration Bill in due course.

Refugees: Afghanistan

Deidre Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the response to the Answer of 17 March 2023 to Question 162216 on Refugees: Afghanistan, whether her Department has set a target date for providing people with further information on how they can be reunited with their family members.

Robert Jenrick: The Government remains committed to providing protection for vulnerable and at-risk people fleeing Afghanistan. However, the situation is complex and presents significant challenges, including how those who are eligible for resettlement in the UK can leave the country. This includes eligible immediate family members of those being resettled under the ACRS.For those evacuated from Afghanistan under the ACRS without their immediate family members, further information will be made available in due course about options for reuniting with them. We are unable to provide a target date at this time.

Visas: Business

Holly Mumby-Croft: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to paragraph 3.43 of the Spring Budget 2023, HC1183, published on 15 March 2023, what new short-term business activities will be permitted to be carried out under business visitor rules for periods of up to 6 months; and whether she plans to launch a consultation on these proposals.

Robert Jenrick: As set out in the Spring Budget, the Home Office is undertaking a review of the current UK visitor rules to make it easier and more attractive to do business in the UK. As part of this review, we continue to work with other government departments and their stakeholders to look at how we can expand the range of short-term business activities that can be carried out for up to 6 months and including on the permitted paid activities visitors can undertake. Changes made to the UK visitor offer will be reflected through updates to the published Immigration Rules from Autumn 2023.

Prosecutions: Burglary and Robbery

Charlotte Nichols: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the charge rate was for robbery and burglary in the last calendar year.

Chris Philp: The Home Office collects and publishes official statistics on the number of robbery and burglary offences and their investigative outcomes reported to and recorded by the police in England and Wales, on a quarterly basis.The latest available information, to the year ending September 2022, can be accessed here:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-recorded-crime-open-data-tablesYear to December 2022 figures will be published on 27th April 2023.

Cybercrime: Smart Devices

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department is taking steps to help prevent the illegal sale of devices to hack vehicles' Bluetooth devices and access people's personal mobile phone data.

Chris Philp: The Government is committed to tackling vehicle crime.We are working closely with police and motor manufacturers through the National Vehicle Crime Working Group, chaired by ACC Jennifer Sims, the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for vehicle crime, to take forward a programme of work to prevent and reduce vehicle crime.A vehicle crime intelligence group has been set up to monitor emerging trends in vehicle crime, such as devices used to steal vehicles and ways in which criminals can exploit new vehicle technology. This group provides a link between the Home Office, police, vehicle manufacturers and Thatcham Research, the automotive insurer’s research centre.

Firearms: Licensing

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many firearms licences have been renewed without fresh vetting in each of the last five years.

Chris Philp: No certificates have been renewed without the police undertaking an assessment of suitability. Firearm and shotgun certificates are issued by police forces and are valid for five years. Before a firearm or shotgun certificate is renewed checks are carried out by the police in all cases to ensure the applicant is a suitable person. A range of checks can be carried out by the police before renewal including criminal record, intelligence and medical checks, social media checks, and interviews with referees, family members and associates of the applicant.The checks undertaken by the police are set out in the Statutory Guidance for firearms licensing, which was introduced on 1 November 2021 and refreshed and republished on 14 February 2023. The police have a legal duty to consider the Statutory Guidance when they assess every firearm application or review a certificate holder.

Anti-social Behaviour

Julian Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to reduce anti-social behaviour.

Chris Philp: The Government is committed to tackling and preventing anti-social behaviour (ASB). We know the serious impact that persistent ASB can have on both individuals and the wider community.On 27 March we published the ASB Action Plan. The ASB Action Plan commits to tackling ASB across five key themes: stronger punishment, making communities safer, building local pride, prevention and early intervention, improving data, reporting and accountability for action.This plan is backed by £160m of funding. This includes up to £60m to fund an increased police and other uniformed presence to clamp down on anti-social behaviour, targeting hotspots. Initially we will work with 10 police force areas, but from 2024 will support a hotspot approach across every police force area in England and Wales, which will see thousands of additional patrols taking place in places blighted by anti-social behaviour.We are on target to recruit the 20,000 additional officers by March 2023, taking us for the first time to over 148,400 officers across England and Wales. This will be the highest number of officers across England and Wales on record.

Travellers

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of the impact of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 on Gypsy, Roma and Traveller people.

Chris Philp: We have carefully considered the impact the new measures might have on people with protected characteristics, including race and ethnicity, in accordance with the Public Sector Equality Duty under the Equality Act 2010.The overarching equality impact assessment was published in September and is publicly available. Home Office measures in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill: Equalities Impact Assessment - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Licensed Premises: Anti-social behaviour

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she plans to take to give local authorities more control over licensing to prevent anti-social behaviour.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if the Government will bring forward legislative proposals to introduce a cap on (a) the number of premises licensed to sell alcohol and (b) the opening hours of those premises.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the potential merits of creating control zones for the licensing of venues selling alcohol.

Chris Philp: The Government believes the Licensing Act 2003 sets out a clear and effective legislative framework to regulate licensable activities and strikes the right balance between providing safeguards to prevent nuisance, crime and disorder, while recognising the contribution licensed premises make to thriving night time economies.The Licensing Act includes several powers that a Local Authority may use to manage the night time economy. For example, a licensing authority may complete a cumulative impact assessment to help it to limit licences granted in areas where there is evidence to show that the number or density of licensed premises in the area may be contributing to problems that are undermining licensing objectives.There is also the option to consult on introducing a late night levy - this is an optional power used at the discretion of the local authority, to collect a financial contribution from businesses that profit from selling alcohol late at night, with the funds raised to be used for late night policing and other costs associated with the night time economy.

Police: Vetting

Charlotte Nichols: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will introduce a national vetting scheme for police officers.

Chris Philp: As the professional body for those working in the police, the College of Policing is responsible for setting the national police vetting standards which are to be applied by all police forces in England and Wales. It does this via its statutory code of practice on vetting and is supported by its authorised professional practice (APP) guidance on vetting.Following concerns raised by a number of high-profile cases of police misconduct and by the government-commissioned inspection into vetting by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS), the Home Secretary recently asked the College to update their vetting code of practice which will provide stricter obligations for Chief Officers on how vetting should be carried out within their forces.The vetting APP guidance is reviewed on an ongoing basis and is scheduled for an update later this year.

Rape: Evidence

Matt Western: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure that police forces are correctly storing rape kits provided by victims to ensure they can be used as evidence.

Chris Philp: We expect every report of rape to be treated seriously from the point of disclosure, every victim to be treated with dignity and every investigation to be conducted thoroughly and professionally.The Forensic Science Regulator has provided guidance on the retention and storage of forensic samples through the existing Codes of Practice and Conduct since 2011. This will continue in the Regulator’s new statutory Code of Practice which comes into force this October.In addition, in 2021 the Home Office-funded Forensic Capability Network published guidance for policing on the Retention, Storage and Destruction of Materials.

Police Service of Northern Ireland

Stephen Farry: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of recording Police Service of Northern Ireland email referrals to the Home Office’s enforcement unit so cases involving victims of crime can be readily identified.

Chris Philp: Police Officers make real time (telephone) referrals to the Immigration Enforcement National Command and Control Unit (NCCU). Since April 2020 NCCU specifically captures information about victims of crime referred by the police by telephone, it cannot presently do so for referrals by email. NCCU records the information that it receives from forces in the same way – it does not differentiate between forces and has no intention of doing so.The referral of information about a migrant victim enables Immigration Enforcement to provide information on Home Office systems to assist police and other authorities to establish the potential vulnerabilities and safeguarding needs of those who are being referred.The Home Office is committed to supporting the reporting of crime including by people who are without immigration status. Current data sharing practices between the police and the Home Office are essential in protecting those most vulnerable and in enforcing the UK’s immigration laws.The National Command and Control Unit is in the process of commissioning a new management information system which will enable email referrals from all forces to be reported in future.

Metropolitan Police: Stun Guns

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the likelihood of the use of tasers by the Metropolitan Police causing (a) temporary and (b) permanent injury.

Chris Philp: Taser provides officers with an important tactical option when facing potentially violent situations.Taser has been approved for police use following independent medical evaluation by the Scientific Advisory Committee for the Medical Implications of Less Lethal Weapons to determine that it is safe and effective.

Nitrous Oxide: Misuse

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential effect of criminalising the use of nitrous oxide on the levels of use of that substance.

Chris Philp: Nitrous oxide misuse is a persistent blight on our public spaces with groups of young people littering local parks with empty canisters. It is the third most used drug amongst young people. It has psychoactive effects, and there are also reported links with drug driving as well as neurological harms. This is why the Government made a decision to control it as a Class C drug under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971.Before bringing forward legislation to control nitrous oxide as a Class C drug the Government will conduct a full Impact Assessment, which will include consideration of the impact control will have on levels of nitrous oxide misuse.The Government conducted an early assessment of the potential impacts of controlling nitrous oxide as part of its decision-making process. This assessment included an assumption that prevalence may decrease following control under the 1971 Act.

Gender Based Violence: Crime Prevention

Julian Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to tackle street crime against women and girls.

Miss Sarah Dines: The Government is committed to ensuring that women and girls both are and feel safe on our streets. We have supported Rt Hon. Greg Clark MP’s Protection from Sex-Based Harassment in Public Bill, which has been passed by the House of Commons. This provides that if someone commits an offence under section 4A of the Public Order Act 1986 (intentional harassment, alarm or distress) and does so because of the victim’s sex, they can receive a longer sentence.We have also taken a range of non-legislative actions. These include:- new guidance for the police by the College of Policing on how existing criminal offences and other tools can be used to respond to reports of public sexual harassment;- updated legal guidance for prosecutors by the Crown Prosecution Service on how public order offences can be used to prosecute public sexual harassment;- the “Enough” public communications campaign, which aims to target public sexual harassment and other forms of violence against women and girls by, for example, empowering bystanders to intervene safely, and encouraging perpetrators to question their own behaviour; andawards of £125 million through the Safer Streets and Safety of Women at Night Funds, covering a range of interventions including enhanced street lighting and CCTV, bystander training programmes, taxi marshals and educational and awareness raising initiatives.

Car Washes: Regulation

Beth Winter: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the impact of the Responsible Car Wash Scheme on compliance and standards in the car washing industry.

Beth Winter: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of establishing a local authority-led licensing scheme for the car washing industry.

Beth Winter: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to end labour exploitation in the car washing industry.

Miss Sarah Dines: The Government takes reports of labour exploitation and illegal working practices very seriously, including in the car wash sector. We remain committed to tackling modern slavery and will take full and robust enforcement action in such cases across all sectors. The Home Office and enforcement bodies (such as the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority) have supported industry initiatives in this sector, including Home Office funding for pilots of the Responsible Car Wash Scheme. The RCWS assessed industry compliance across a wide range of criteria, which included labour laws but also areas such as planning permission and correct disposal of trade effluent. The Government is in the process of assessing how we can use the evaluations of the RCWS to support industry compliance across these varied areas. The Director of Labour Market Enforcement (DLME) sets out a report of the scale and nature of labour exploitation in their annual strategy to ensure the three labour market enforcement bodies are targeting the highest-risk industries. The Home Office will continue to be guided by the annual strategy and target work on areas assessed most at-risk by the DLME, including the hand car wash sector.

Illegal Migration Bill

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of the Illegal Migration Bill on victims of slavery who have been trafficked into the UK.

Robert Jenrick: I refer the Hon. Member to my response to Question 161356 on 22 March: Written questions and answers - Written questions, answers and statements - UK Parliament.

HM Passport Office: Industrial Disputes

Charlotte Nichols: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions she has had with the Public and Commercial Services Union on (a) remuneration and (b) working conditions for HM Passport Office staff.

Robert Jenrick: HM Passport Office employees are Home Office employees and part of the Home Office collective bargaining unit. The Home Office engages in annual pay negotiations with its four recognised trade unions, including the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union, within the parameters of the Civil Service Pay Remit Guidance.The Cabinet Office are leading on discussions with PCS regarding their Civil Service wide dispute over pay, pensions, job security and redundancy terms.

Agriculture: Seasonal Workers

Tony Lloyd: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she is taking steps to help ensure that seasonal migrant workers do not suffer financial losses as a result of participating in the seasonal workers scheme.

Robert Jenrick: A key objective of the route is to ensure that migrant workers are protected against modern slavery and other labour abuses. The Home Office has made ongoing enhancements to the route over the lifetime of its operation, most recently adding a mandatory minimum hours pay requirement to the Immigration Rules, ensuring that all workers will receive a guaranteed 32 hours of paid employment per week.

Homes for Ukraine Scheme

Alison Thewliss: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications have been approved under the Homes for Ukraine Scheme in which the applicant was not accepted as having been ordinarily resident in Ukraine on or directly before 1 January 2022, which is set out as a requirement in the rules.

Robert Jenrick: Applicants who were not ordinarily resident in the Ukraine during the required period may be considered exceptionally depending on their circumstances. Figures on the number of applicants this applies to are not published separately.The latest published figures can be found here:Ukraine Family Scheme, Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme (Homes for Ukraine) and Ukraine Extension Scheme visa data - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

Asylum: Interviews

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people have been waiting for an asylum substantive interview for (a) one, (b) two, (c) three, (d) four and (e) five years.

Robert Jenrick: The Home Office is unable to state how many people have been waiting for an asylum substantive interview for the times specified because this information is not held in a reportable format, not routinely published and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. The Home Office does publish data on the number asylum claims awaiting an initial decision by duration, for main claimant only. This data can be found at Asy_04 of the published Immigration Statistics: List of tables - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

Visas: EU Countries

Navendu Mishra: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether an EU national employed by an EU employer who is visiting a partner in the UK is required to obtain a visa in order to work remotely for less that 25 days per year if they are only doing work that involves no contact with any UK business.

Robert Jenrick: Published guidance on the Standard Visitor route makes clear that visitors (including those from the EU) are permitted to undertake activities relating to their employment overseas remotely whilst they are in the UK, such as responding to emails or answering phone calls. However, an applicant’s main purpose of coming to the UK should be to undertake a permitted activity and not specifically to work remotely from the UK. The relevant guidance is here:Visit caseworker guidance (publishing.service.gov.uk).

Department for Education

Holiday Activities and Food Programme

Nick Fletcher: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to review the eligibility criteria for the Holiday Activities and Food programme.

Claire Coutinho: The department is investing over £200 million per year in free holiday club places for children from low-income families through the Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme.HAF supports disadvantaged children and their families with enriching activities, providing them with healthy food, helping them to learn new things, and improving socialisation.The programme takes place all across England and has reached over 685,000 children, of which 475,000 children were receiving benefits-related free school meals (FSM), during last year’s summer holidays.While the department asks local authorities to focus the majority of the funding on FSM children, local authorities have the flexibility to use up to 15% of their funding to target and support other children and families that align with the local authorities’ own priorities.

Foster Care: Barnet

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help increase the number of foster care placements in the London Borough of Barnet.

Claire Coutinho: The department is taking action nationally to increase the number of foster care places available.We are investing over £3 million to deliver an initial fostering recruitment and retention programme in the North East Regional Improvement and Innovation Alliance. This will introduce a regional support hub to support individuals interested in applying to foster, facilitate targeted communications, and improve retention with the evidence-based model Mockingbird. The department will then expand our recruitment and retention programme from 2023 by investing over £24 million, offering more areas of the country the opportunity to implement end-to-end improvements in fostering recruitment and retention.The department also continues to fund Fosterline and Fosterline Plus, a free-to-access helpline and support service for current and prospective foster carers, to provide high quality, independent information and advice on a range of issues. ​In recognition of the increasing costs of living, the department is also raising the National Minimum Allowance (NMA). Foster carers will benefit from a 12.43% increase to the NMA. In addition, changes to tax and benefit allowances announced in the 2023 Spring Budget represent an average tax cut of £450 per year for foster carers, as well as simplifying the process for self-assessment returns for most foster carers. This above inflation increase in allowance and changes to tax arrangement will help foster parents cover the increasing costs of caring for a child in their home and support prospective foster carers to feel confident taking a child into their home.​

Teachers: Resignations

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the main reason for teachers leaving that profession in the last (a) one, (b) two and (c) five years.

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an estimate of the number and proportion of male teachers that have left the teaching profession in the last (a) one, (b) two and (c) five years.

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an estimate of the number and proportion of female teachers leaving the teaching profession in the last (a) one, (b) two and (c) five years.

Nick Gibb: Information on the number and demographics of teachers leaving state funded schools in England, plus the leaver type, is published in the ‘School Workforce in England’ statistical publication, which can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england. Information for the last five years with gender breakdown is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/93502b56-cbce-4dc1-077b-08db29e96c41.

Teachers: Conditions of Employment

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking with employers in the education sector to help ensure that the job role of teachers is more (a) flexible and (b) agile.

Nick Gibb: Ensuring teaching is an attractive profession in which teachers are supported to succeed is a priority for the Department. The Department is taking action to expand and promote opportunities for flexible working. This includes promoting formal flexible working arrangements, such as part time working and encouraging informal flexibility and agile working. The Department is taking action to promote the opportunity to spend planning, preparation and assessment time working remotely, away from the school building.To promote flexible working practices, the Department has published supportive resources on GOV.UK, including non-statutory guidance and case studies. The Department is encouraging schools and colleges to sign up to the Education Staff Wellbeing Charter, which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/education-staff-wellbeing-charter. The charter includes a set of commitments from the Government, Ofsted, and schools and colleges to protect and promote the wellbeing of staff. It includes commitments for schools to create a supportive culture around flexible working. Currently, more than 2,500 schools and colleges have signed up to the charter since it was launched in November 2021.In February 2023, a culture change programme was also introduced, focused on embedding flexible working in schools and multi academy trusts (MATs). This programme aims to reach an estimated 4,000 participants and will include the delivery of supportive webinars. It will also include the appointment of up to 12 funded flexible working ambassador schools and MATs to provide bespoke peer support to leaders in education. The ambassadors will build on the work of a previous cohort of ambassador schools and provide support in overcoming challenges associated with flexible working in schools.

Schools: Leadership

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of the take-up of the Early headship coaching offer.

Nick Gibb: The Early Headship Coaching Offer (EHCO) provides unassessed face to face support for new head teachers in their first five years of headship who have, or are, undertaking the National Professional Qualification for Headship (NPQH).The EHCO was rebranded in 2022 from the Additional Support Offer. The eligibility criteria increased from those in the first two years of a headship role to the first five years. This was done to not only increase take up of the programme, but to express more clearly the support the programme involved.As of February 2023, 289 participants have undertaken the EHCO. To improve take up even further, the Department launched a review of the EHCO in January 2023. The first phase involved investigating the eligibility criteria of the offer in order to expand the pool of participants and increase those that can be supported. The Department conducted user research with participants of the EHCO and the NPQH, as well as Lead Providers who deliver both. Interviews with participants have highlighted that they value the practical support and guidance in the programme to undertake this new role and support them throughout. Lead Providers have expressed positive feedback from their participants and are continuing to work to increase the awareness of the programme.. Barriers to take up include low awareness and perceived time commitment, especially by those anticipating completing the NPQH and the EHCO simultaneously.The second phase will include a wider review of the content of the EHCO to address barriers to take up, including those mentioned above. The phase will focus on the level of coaching and/or mentoring available, the recruitment and management of mentors and coaches, the time commitment of the programme, and on different delivery models and communications.

Education: Travellers

Janet Daby: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she is taking steps to implement the 18+1 ethnicity monitoring system for data collection in education for Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities.

Nick Gibb: The Department follows the Office of National Statistics (ONS) and Government Statistical Service (GSS) harmonised standards for collecting and/or presenting statistics. More details about codes can be found here along with information on how the codes were chosen: https://www.ethnicity-facts-figures.service.gov.uk/style-guide/ethnic-groups.

Disability and Special Educational Needs: Finance

Janet Daby: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of funding for education, health and care plans in schools.

Claire Coutinho: The core schools budget is £4 billion higher this financial year than last year and will rise by another £3.5 billion, on top of that, in the next financial year, reaching a total of £57.3 billion. Taken together, this means an increase of over 15% in just two years.Local authorities are required by regulations to identify for each of their mainstream schools, through their local schools funding formula, a notional special educational needs (SEN) budget within which the school is expected to meet the additional cost (up to £6,000 per pupil) of supporting pupils with SEN, including those with an education health and care (EHC) plan. The department has issued guidance to local authorities on their calculation of the notional SEN budget using their local funding formula.When the costs of additional support required for a pupil with SEN exceed £6,000, the authority should also allocate additional top-up funding to cover the excess costs. This funding comes from the authority’s high needs budget. Overall, high needs funding (part of the overall core schools budget referred to above) is increasing to £10.1 billion in financial year 2023/24, an increase of over 50% from the 2019/20 allocations. Typically, high needs funding is for children and young people with an EHC plan, in both mainstream and special schools, though local authorities have the discretion to provide high needs funding for those without an EHC plan.

Teachers: Conditions of Employment

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when her Department plans to publish the report of the study it commissioned in 2022 into the working lives of teachers.

Nick Gibb: The Department is in discussion about the publication date of the wave one survey and will inform headteacher and teacher unions, as well as the study's advisory group, when a date is confirmed. The Department values the views of the 11,000 headteachers and teachers who responded to wave one of the survey and wave two of the survey is currently underway.

Pupils: Disadvantaged

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate her Department has made of when the attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers will close.

Nick Gibb: The Department is committed to closing the disadvantage gap. This Department’s work for the ten years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic showed that progress can be made to narrow the gap, and that its policies and programmes were having an effect. The Department will continue to monitor progress and to deliver programmes designed to help disadvantaged pupils, for example through the Pupil Premium which was introduced in 2011 and is worth over £2.6 billion in the 2022/23 financial year.

Disability and Special Educational Needs: Portsmouth

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent progress her Department has made on creating a free school in Portsmouth for children with special educational needs and disabilities.

Nick Gibb: The Wymering School in Portsmouth is due to open to pupils on 17 April 2023. This new special school will provide 66 places for pupils between 9 and 16 with social communication and interaction difficulties, associated speech, language and communication needs (neurodiverse profile) and high levels of anxiety and/or associated distressed behaviour.

Schools: Standards

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 14 March 2023 to Question 159026 on Schools: Standards, in which month her Department plans to release the funding for the 24 Priority Areas for Raising School Standards.

Nick Gibb: Informed by Local Partnership Boards, the Department will directly commission and fund organisations to deliver targeted support in Priority Education Investment Areas to improve literacy and numeracy.The Department has already begun commissioning organisations to deliver these activities with initial payments to commence by July 2023.The Department has this week published the allocation of local needs funding for each Priority Area on GOV.UK.

Childcare

Charlotte Nichols: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the cost to the public purse of proposals to extend eligibility for free childcare per parent who is able to return to work.

Claire Coutinho: At the Spring Budget 2023, my right hon Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced additional funding of £4.1 billion that the government will provide by 2027/28 to facilitate the expansion of the new early education free hours offer. All eligible working parents in England will therefore be able to access 30 hours of free childcare per week, for 38 weeks of the year, from when their child is 9 months old to when they start school by September 2025.The hourly rates for the existing entitlements will also be substantially uplifted. This is on top of additional investments announced at the 2021 Spending Review.The government will provide £204 million of additional funding from September 2023, increasing to £288 million by 2024/25, for local authorities to further increase hourly rates paid to childcare providers. This will include an average 30% increase in the 2-year-old rate from September 2023 and means that the average hourly rate for 2-year-olds will rise from the current £6 per hour in 2023/24 to around £8 per hour. The average 3 and 4-year-old rate will rise in line with inflation to over £5.50 per hour from September 2023, with further uplifts beyond this. We will publish more details on this in due course.

Childcare: Special Educational Needs

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that all childcare placements are able to support children with SEND.

Claire Coutinho: The department is providing a range of support to ensure all childcare placements are able to support children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in early years.The SEND and Alternative Provision (AP) Improvement Plan sets out how an effective single national SEND and AP system will be delivered. This includes new national standards for identifying and meeting SEND. These new standards aim to make consistent the provision that should be made available across the country for every child and young person with SEND. There will also be new local SEND and AP partnerships, strengthened accountability and dashboards, and reforms to funding.High needs funding will be rising to £10.1 billion in 2023/24, which is an increase of over 50% from the 2019/20 allocations. High needs funding is for supporting children and young people with complex SEND, whose support costs more than settings can meet from their core funding, or who are in specialist provision. The extra funding will help local authorities and settings with the increasing costs of supporting children and young people with complex SEND.Local authorities are required to establish a Special Educational Needs Inclusion Fund to provide additional top-up funding to childcare settings. This fund requires all local authorities to work with providers to address the needs of individual children with SEND.The Early Years National Funding Formula contains an additional needs element to take account of the number of three and four-year-old children with additional needs in an area. The Disability Access Fund will be at least £828 per eligible child for 2023/24.The department has also committed to funding up to 5,000 early years special educational needs coordinators (SENCOs) to get an accredited level 3 Early Years SENCO qualification.

Disability and Special Educational Needs

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help ensure that children with SEND receive multi-agency support; and what steps her Department is taking to learn lessons from the provision of Family Hubs and Family Help when rolling out multi-agency SEND support.

Claire Coutinho: In March this year, the government published its proposals to deliver stronger multi-agency support for children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). Key reforms include the introduction of Local SEND and Alternative Provision Partnerships, which will bring together representatives across the system, and ensure co-production is at the centre of decision making.The department also committed to develop and test a standard for multi-agency advisory panels, to assess the most effective size, membership and remit of a group. These panels will inform local authorities in making decisions around Education Health Care (EHC) statutory assessments. The department will also test whether a standardised EHC form is effective.The department will strongly encourage the adoption of the Designated Social Care Officer (DSCO) role in each local area. The job description and practice expectations for the DSCO will provide the capacity and expertise to improve the links and contributions from care services into the SEND process.The government has published the Stable Homes: Built on Love strategy for children’s social care. This included a commitment to publish a Knowledge and Skills Statement for Family Help Workers. The Knowledge and Skills Statement will be informed by new research on current family support workers, helping to use learning from existing practice to inform future multi-agency working.Family hubs also have an important role to play. The government announced a package of around £300 million last year, to transform a wide range of services for parents, carers, babies, and children in half of upper tier local authorities across England, including by creating a network of family hubs. The department has published guidance setting out the expectations of local authorities receiving a share of the funding, which includes specific expectations around hubs helping families who have children with SEND to access appropriate support and services. A copy of the guidance is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/family-hubs-and-start-for-life-programme-local-authority-guide.We will robustly evaluate the programme and build the evidence base around what works for family hubs.

Teachers: Qualifications

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of the level of take-up of national professional qualifications by teachers.

Nick Gibb: National Professional Qualifications (NPQs) were created using the latest evidence from across the education, with input from sector experts such as the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF). Since autumn 2021, the Department has fully funded 51,518 qualifications for teachers, head teachers, and practitioners across the country. This is a significant increase in comparison to the 33,399 professionals who undertook a funded NPQ between 2017 and 2021. A recent evaluation of NPQs highlighted that almost all participants interviewed would recommend the qualification to others.To increase take up, the Department has conducted a range of reviews over the past year to investigate barriers in applying and to recommend solutions. The reviews have involved extensive stakeholder engagement, including a comprehensive investigation of areas with low take up, engagement with executive leaders and NPQ participants. To address some of the challenges identified, especially around targeting and communications, the Department has launched a new NPQ prospectus and a dedicated website to assist prospective applicants. The Department is working closely with the lead providers of the qualifications to review delivery models and allow greater flexibility for participants.The Department has launched the Target Support Fund to provide additional financial support to state funded schools and state funded 16 to 19 secondary schools in England with one to 600 pupils. These settings will be paid £200 for each teacher or head teacher employed who takes an NPQ to help professionals who may find it harder to engage with professional development.

Department for Education: Written Questions

Munira Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she plans to respond to Questions 166373 and 166374 on Childcare tabled by the hon. Member for Twickenham on 15 March 2023.

Claire Coutinho: I can confirm that responses to Questions 166373 and 166374 have been provided to the hon. Member for Twickenham.

Pre-school Education: Staff

Duncan Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the announcement of £180 million to improve children’s development in the early years, 20 October 2022, whether the training of 5,000 early years teachers or co-ordinators will be to a level 3 SENCO qualification; how the 5,000 SENCO qualified early years staff will be allocated to schools; how their salaries will be funded; and whether schools will be given guidance on the job descriptions they should use to attract the new 5,000 early years SENCO qualified staff to their schools.

Claire Coutinho: The Early Years Recovery Programme includes funding for the training of up to 5,000 early years special educational needs coordinators (SENCOs), leading to an accredited level 3 early years SENCO qualification. The training is for SENCOs currently working in early years group-based providers or working as childminders. Salaries will continue to be paid by providers themselves or from self-employment as applicable for childminders.

Childcare

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to extend his proposed 30 free hours of childcare outlined in the Budget 2023 to children aged between 12 and 24 months to households with a collective income over £100,000.

Claire Coutinho: In the Spring Budget 2023 on 15 March, the government announced a number of transformative reforms to childcare for parents and children. This includes the expansion of the 30 hours free childcare offer, where eligible working parents in England will be able to access 30 hours of free childcare per week for 38 weeks per year, from when their child is 9 months old to when they start school.The government expects to be spending in excess of £8 billion every year on free hours and early education by 2027/28, helping working families with their childcare costs. This announcement represents the single biggest investment in childcare in England.Eligible working parents of 3 and 4-year-olds are currently eligible for 30 hours of free childcare per week, over 38 weeks a year. From April 2024, working parents of 2-year-olds will be able to access 15 hours of free childcare per week, over 38 weeks a year. From September 2024, this will be extended to parents of 9 month to 3-year-olds, over 38 weeks a year. From September 2025, working parents of 9 month to 3-year-olds will be able to access 30 free hours per week, over 38 weeks a year.To be eligible for this offer, as with the current 30 hours offer, parents will need to earn the equivalent of 16 hours a week at national minimum or living wage, and less than £100,000 adjusted net income per year. The income eligibility criteria are applied on a per parent basis, so working parents who individually earn more than £8,670 from April but less than £100,000 adjusted net income per year are eligible. In a two-parent family, both parents must meet these thresholds, unless one partner receives certain benefits. In a single-parent household, the single parent must meet these income thresholds.The reforms announced build on our current early education entitlements that the government offers, which includes a universal 15 hour offer for all 3 and 4-year-olds, a 15 hour offer for the most disadvantaged 2-year-olds, the existing 30 hours offer for 3 and 4-year-olds, Tax-Free Childcare, and Universal Credit Childcare.Further information on the support available to parents is available at: https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/.

Childcare

Derek Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of allowing parents to transfer free childcare allowances for the care of children currently ineligible for free childcare.

Claire Coutinho: Parents can benefit from the government’s current range of childcare offers, which includes the free early education entitlements, as well as Tax-Free Childcare and Universal Credit Childcare.The free early education entitlements apply to childcare places taken up by a child who is within the correct eligibility age range for each offer.All parents of 3 and 4-year-old children can benefit from 15 hours per week over 38 weeks of the year of free early education, regardless of family circumstances. This helps children to develop social skills and prepare them for school.Working parents on low incomes and in receipt of certain benefits can qualify for 15 hours per week over 38 weeks of the year of free early education for 2-year-olds. This significantly improves the educational attainment of these children.Eligible working parents of 3 and 4-year-olds are entitled to an additional 15 hours (30 hours) of free childcare per week over 38 weeks a year. The 30 hours offer aims to support working families with the cost of childcare, and to support parents back into work, or to work more hours should they wish to. In addition to the entitlements, Tax-Free Childcare and Universal Credit Childcare can be used to pay costs associated with care of children in their early years, as well as those of school age.Tax-Free Childcare is available for working parents of children aged 0-11, or up to 17 for eligible disabled children. This has the same income criteria as 30 hours free childcare and can be used to pay for childcare of children who fall within the eligible age range.Low-income families who are in receipt of Universal Credit, and find that they are ineligible for Tax-Free Childcare, can have 85% of their childcare costs covered under the Universal Credit Childcare offer. This offer can be used to cover costs associated with childcare taken up at nurseries, preschools, after-school clubs, breakfast clubs, childminders, nannies and holiday clubs.In the 2023 Spring Budget, the government announced a number of transformative reforms to childcare for parents, children, and the economy. This includes the expansion of the 30 hours free childcare offer where eligible working parents in England will be able to access 30 hours of free childcare per week for 38 weeks per year from when their child is 9 months old to when they start school.Further information on the support available to parents can be found at: https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/.

Disability and Special Educational Needs: Classroom Assistants

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps to develop professional standards for teaching assistants working with children with special educational needs and disabilities.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will develop specific qualifications for teaching assistants on the provision of support for children with special educational needs and disabilities.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will develop a workforce plan for teaching assistants working in the provision of support for children with special educational needs and disabilities.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will review the adequacy of the (a) pay and (b) terms and conditions of employment of teaching assistants who work in the provision of services to children with special educational needs and disabilities.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a national pay, terms and conditions structure for teaching assistants working with children and young people with SEND.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has had discussions with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to compare the pay, terms and conditions that NHS offers its ancillary staff with those provided to teaching assistants.

Nick Gibb: The Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Improvement Plan, published 2 March 2023, set out that the Department will develop a longer term approach for teaching assistants to ensure their responsibilities and effect is consistent across the system. The Department will commission a research project to develop an evidence base on current school approaches, demand, and best practice. The Department will work with the sector to develop an approach.In the SEND and AP Improvement Plan, the Department committed to developing new SEND and AP practice guides. These will set out evidence based best practice in meeting individual needs, and will cover guidance on the effective use and deployment of teaching assistants. The Department will start by building on existing best practice, including on early language support, autism and mental health and wellbeing, and will publish three practice guides by the end of 2025.The Government’s education reforms gave schools freedom to make their own decisions regarding budgets. For most staff, including teaching assistants, schools have the freedom to recruit according to their own circumstances and set pay and conditions.Many schools pay teaching assistants according to Local Government pay scales. These are set through negotiations between the Local Government Association, which represents the employer, and Local Government trade unions, which represent the employee. The Government does not have any formal role in these matters.

Students: Suicide

Charlotte Nichols: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has had discussions with universities on publishing the annual suicide rate of enrolled students.

Robert Halfon: Every student death is a tragedy. The department is committed to doing all we can to prevent these devastating events, which we know have a profound and lasting impact on family and friends. The department regularly engages across the higher education (HE) sector, including with universities to ensure that student mental health is well supported.Following a suicide prevention roundtable, co-chaired by the department and Universities UK, the department wrote to the National Statistician asking the Office of National Statistics (ONS) to publish an updated linked data analysis. The ONS published the refreshed dataset and analysis on May 31 2022, which included HE student deaths by suicide from the 2016/17 to 2019/20 academic years. This can be found here: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/articles/estimatingsuicideamonghighereducationstudentsenglandandwalesexperimentalstatistics/2017to2020. The sector-wide data publication by ONS is an important step in improving suicide prevention across HE.The department expects all HE providers to take suicide prevention very seriously, providing information and places for students to find help, actively identifying students at risk, and intervening with swift support when needed. Where a tragedy does occur, this must be treated with the utmost sensitivity by a provider. The department supports the Suicide Safer Universities framework, led by Universities UK and Papyrus, which can be found at: https://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/what-we-do/policy-and-research/publications/suicide-safer-universities. As well as supporting universities to prevent student suicides and support students and families after the death of a student, this framework includes additional guidance on information sharing and postvention guidance (actions after a death by suspected suicide), which can be found here: https://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/what-we-do/policy-and-research/publications/features/suicide-safer-universities/sharing-information, and here: https://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/what-we-do/policy-and-research/publications/features/suicide-safer-universities/sharing-information. This provides practical advice on compassionate, confident, and timely support as well as a serious incident review template, which the department encourage providers to complete and learn from to improve their practice.Supporting student mental health and ensuring action is taken to prevent future tragedies is a high priority for the government. That is why we continue to work closely with the Department of Health and Social Care, the Office for Students (OfS), and the HE sector to support the student population. The department has asked the OfS to distribute £15 million of funding to support students transitioning from school or college into HE, and to fund partnerships between universities and local NHS services to provide pathways of care for university students.We have called on all providers to sign up to the University Mental Health Charter, led by Student Minds and developed in collaboration with students, staff, and partner organisations. The Charter aims to drive up standards of practice across the HE sector.The department has also appointed university Vice-Chancellor Edward Peck as HE's first ever Student Support Champion. His role is to provide sector leadership and promote effective practice in areas including mental health and information sharing. Edward Peck has been speaking directly with the families of those who have tragically taken their own life whilst at university. Conversations with him have taken place about this work, so the department can benefit from this lived experience.We will continue to work closely with experts to ensure that we are taking all necessary steps to prevent suicides among university students.

Schools: Inspections

Munira Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when (a) her Department and (b) Ofsted first became aware of the practice of schools monitoring traffic to their websites to predict the timing of an upcoming Ofsted inspection.

Munira Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether (a) her Department and (b) Ofsted are taking steps to prevent the practice of schools monitoring traffic to their websites to predict the timing of an upcoming Ofsted inspection.

Nick Gibb: Ofsted have been aware of the issues of schools monitoring their website traffic for possible Ofsted activity, but without firm evidence. The Department and Ofsted are currently looking at how best to respond to recent reports. The Department would urge schools not to use such services. Schools do not need to take any extra steps to prepare for Ofsted inspections and this could cause unnecessary pressure and add to workload for staff.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Flood Control: Finance

Harriett Baldwin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when she plans to announce the eligible communities for the Frequently Flooded Allowance.

Rebecca Pow: In July 2022 the Government announced the £100 million Frequently Flooded Allowance to support communities that have experienced repeated flooding. The allowance will help schemes that already qualify for Defra’s Flood Defence Grant-in-Aid funding under the current capital programme but have not been able to secure all the funding necessary to progress their scheme. The Secretary of State has written to all MPs with successful bids in their constituencies. Further details will be set out next week.

Dogs: Animal Breeding

Margaret Ferrier: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the Petfished campaign in providing information to potential puppy buyers on sourcing a puppy responsibly; and whether she plans to run further education campaigns to help puppy buyers acquire dogs responsibly.

Rebecca Pow: Our analysis of the Petfished campaign indicates that it has successfully delivered key messages about the responsible purchase or rehoming of cats and dogs. Those key messages remain available to the public on the Petfished website which can be found here: Petfished – Learn how to spot the signs of a deceitful pet seller (getyourpetsafely.campaign.gov.uk) Defra keeps its public messaging campaigns under review and will consider conducting further campaigns to support the responsible purchasing of pets where there are clear benefits.

Dogs: Animal Breeding

Margaret Ferrier: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the impact of dog breeding regulations on breeders who breed two or fewer litters per year.

Rebecca Pow: Under The Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018 (the 2018 Regulations) anyone in the business of breeding and selling dogs and/or who breeds three or more litters in a twelve-month period needs to have a valid licence from their local authority. The 2018 Regulations are targeted at businesses and individuals/operators which operate on a commercial basis. They are not intended to capture or regulate hobby breeders. We are currently conducting a post-implementation review of the 2018 Regulations which will consider the need for any refinements in light of evidence provided by stakeholders, licensed and unlicensed dog breeders, and local authorities.

Pets: Travel

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions she has had with her EU counterparts on the reintroduction of pet passports for UK citizens wishing to take their pets abroad to EU countries.

Rebecca Pow: We are continuing to seek agreement from the European Commission on awarding Great Britain 'Part 1' listed status. Achieving this would allow pet owners and assistance dog users to use pet passports when travelling to the EU.

Animals (Low-Welfare Activities Abroad) Bill

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she plans to bring forward the Government's proposed Animals Abroad Bill to Parliament.

Rebecca Pow: The Government is focused on delivering our ambitious animal welfare agenda. Instead of bringing forward a multi-issue Animals Abroad Bill, we will continue to support legislation for individual reforms. The Government is pleased to continue to support the passage of a series of Private Members Bills delivering important reforms regarding the importation of detached shark fins and hunting trophies as well as banning the advertising and offering for sale here of unacceptably low welfare animal experiences abroad.

Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill

Wendy Morton: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions she has had with the Leader of the House on scheduling Parliamentary time for the report stage of the Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill.

Mark Spencer: The Secretary of State has regular discussions with the Leader of the House about our legislative programme and other matters. The Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill contains a number of manifesto commitments, including a ban on live exports and curbs on puppy smuggling, which we are committed to progressing when Parliamentary time allows. The Leader of the House will continue to announce business in the usual way.

Members: Correspondence

Mr John Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when he plans to respond to correspondence of 23 November and 21 December 2022 and 26 January and 28 February 2023 from the hon. Member for Basildon and Billericay on a constituent, reference JB339837 MC2022/24535.

Mark Spencer: A reply was sent to the hon. Member on 27 March 2023.

Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill

Tonia Antoniazzi: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions she has had with the Leader of the House on scheduling Parliamentary time for the Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill.

Mark Spencer: Business Managers are aware of the manifesto commitments to be fulfilled and are in charge of scheduling Government business. I am sure the House will be pleased with the progress of other commitments on animal welfare that are now in the Lords and I hope will progress unamended. The Leader of the House will continue to announce business in the usual way.

Air Pollution

Geraint Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the Chief Medical Officer’s annual report 2022 on air pollution.

Rebecca Pow: The Chief Medical Officer’s report brought together assessments by multiple scientists. Much of the analysis had already been set out in the 2019 Clean Air Strategy, as was action to keep improving air quality, further updated in our recent Environmental Improvement Plan.

Countryside: Access

Sir Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to (a) improve access to the countryside and (b) ensure that footpath and green lanes are properly maintained.

Trudy Harrison: The Government recognises the importance of providing access to the outdoors for people’s health and wellbeing and are working to ensure this is safe and appropriate. We committed in our Environmental Improvement Plan published on 31 January to work across government to help ensure that everyone lives within 15 minutes’ walk of a green or blue space. The Government is delivering a number of policies to increase access to nature including:Delivering the £14.5m ‘Access for All’ programme, which consists of a package of targeted measures in our protected landscapes, national trails, forests and the wider countryside to make access to green and blue spaces more inclusive.Working to complete the England Coast Path which, at around 2,700 miles, will be the longest waymarked and maintained coast walking route in the world. Over 2,000 miles have now been approved as England Coast Path, with nearly 800 miles already open. It will also create 250,000 hectares of new open access land within the coastal margin.Delivering the £9m Levelling Up Parks Fund to improve green space in over 100 disadvantaged neighbourhoods in the UK.Designating Wainwright’s coast to coast route across the north of England as a National Trail.Our commitment to the provision of safe and appropriate public access in as many woodlands as possible as set out in the England Trees Action Plan. The recently published Environmental Improvement Plan reiterates our commitment to publish our ambition for improving the quantity, quality, and permanency of woodland access.Through programmes with the Community Forests and Forestry England we are enabling creation of large scale publicly accessible woodlands near towns and cities.We continue to support land managers to provide woodland access through our Countryside Stewardship (CS) and England Woodland Creation Offer (EWCO) schemes.Under the new Environmental Land Management (ELM) offer, for woodlands, we are providing societal benefits by bringing people closer to nature, allowing long term permissive access for recreation and contributing to the rural economy.Local authorities are responsible for the management and maintenance of public rights of way including green lanes. Landowners are responsible for the maintenance of permissive paths. The UK Forestry Standard clearly states that existing rights of access must be respected and not obstructed. In England and Wales, responsible access must be allowed on mapped access land, including woodland dedicated under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, unless a Direction is in place to restrict or exclude access. All government supported planting, such as under our England Woodland Creation Offer (EWCO) and Countryside Stewardship Scheme, must comply with these requirements.

Angling: Environmental Information Regulations 2004

Virginia Crosbie: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential merits for anglers of maintaining the Environmental Information Regulations 2004.

Mark Spencer: Defra is in the process of analysing and assessing its retained EU law stock to determine what should be preserved as part of domestic law, and what should be repealed, or amended. This work will determine how we use the powers in the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill, including in relation to the Environmental Information Regulations 2004.

Deposit Return Schemes

Afzal Khan: What discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on new deposit return schemes in England.

Rebecca Pow: The Government recently published its response to the 2021 consultation on introducing a Deposit Return Scheme for drinks containers in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The Deposit Return Scheme will launch in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland from 1 October 2025. Cabinet discusses a range of issues and those discussions are confidential.

Flood Control: North Devon

Selaine Saxby: What steps her Department has taken to reduce storm overflows in North Devon constituency.

Rebecca Pow: We are requiring water companies to deliver their largest ever infrastructure investment worth £56 billion over 25 years. South West Water are now required to undertake improvements to storm overflows in your constituency for example by increasing capacity of storm storage. I have also asked every water and sewerage company in the country to provide an action plan for every storm overflow, including South West Water. We are driving increases in monitoring across the country with coverage increasing from 7% in 2010 under Labour to around 90% today, and 100% by the end of this year.

Department of Health and Social Care

Cancer: Health Services

Helen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to publish the service specifications for teenage and young adult cancer services in England.

Helen Whately: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Cancer: Health Services

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to reduce the time from (a) patients presenting with cancer symptoms to diagnosis and (b) from diagnosis of cancer to treatment for (i) cancer in general and (ii) pancreatic cancer.

Helen Whately: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Diagnosis: Finance

Wes Streeting: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of his Department's annual budget (a) will be spent on diagnostics in 2022-23 and (b) was spent on diagnostics in each of the last five years.

Will Quince: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Community Care: Finance

Wes Streeting: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of his Department's annual budget (a) will be spent on community care in 2022-23 and (b) was spent on community care in each of the last five years.

Neil O'Brien: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Social Services: Finance

Wes Streeting: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of his Department's annual budget (a) will be spent on social care in 2022-23 and (b) was spent on social care in each of the last five years.

Helen Whately: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Health Services: Finance

Wes Streeting: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of his Department's annual budget (a) will be spent on primary care in 2022-23 and (b) was spent on primary care in each of the last five years.

Neil O'Brien: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Prosthetics: Children and Young People

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether funding is available to enable children and young people to access bionic prosthetics as of 27 March 2023.

Maria Caulfield: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Cancer: Halton

Derek Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of cancer patients in Halton constituency who received an urgent referral received their first treatment within 62 days of that referral in the latest period for which data are available.

Helen Whately: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Breast Cancer: Screening

Mr Clive Betts: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will outline the (a) decision-making process and (b) eligibility criteria used to determine which NHS Trusts received funding for Breast Cancer Screening Units in the financial year 2022-23.

Helen Whately: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Prescriptions: Disability and Older People

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has plans to charge (a) the elderly and (b) people with disabilities for NHS prescriptions.

Will Quince: We have no current plans to amend the arrangements by which people with qualifying medical conditions are entitled to free prescriptions. We will announce the Government’s response to the consultation on the upper age for National Health Service prescription charge exemptions and the State Pension age in due course. Approximately 89% of prescriptions are currently dispensed free of charge.

Protective Clothing: Recycling

Angela Rayner: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much his Department spent on (a) costs associated with the resolution of disputed contracts for and (b) other costs arising from the disposal of personal protective equipment between January 2020 and January 2023.

Will Quince: A team solely dedicated to the resolution of contracts was established in April 2022. Prior to April 2022 work on contract resolution was a proportion of staff time across several different teams, and it is therefore not possible to accurately extract those costs. The Department has assessed the directly attributable costs between April 2022 and March 2023 (using an estimation for March 2023) as £5,367,486. These costs relate to contingent labour, consultancy, and legal fees. The Department has defined ‘other costs’ of disposal to include the following: costs committed and spent with Lead Waste Partners and others for disposal, and costs of staff time working on disposals. The total during the period January 2020 to end of January 2023 was £18.55 million.

Drugs: Prices

Chris Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the answer of 30 January 2023 to Question 129959 on Drugs: Prices, how many of the 24 commercial agreements that resulted in non-uniform pricing since 2020 were agreed through (a) The Cancer Drugs Fund, (b) routine commissioning and (c) the Innovative Medicines Fund.

Will Quince: Of the 24 commercial agreements that resulted in non-uniform pricing since 2020, 11 were agreed through the Cancer Drugs Fund and 13 were agreed through routine commissioning. NHS England and NHS Improvement (NHSE&I) and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) will lead a public engagement exercise on proposals for the Innovative Medicine Fund in due course. NHSE&I and NICE will continue to work collaboratively in line with NHSE&I’s published commercial framework to negotiate deals with industry that enable patients to access the most innovative and effective new medicines and ensure the National Health Service gets the best value.

Locums: Expenditure

Bell Ribeiro-Addy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much the NHS spent on locum services in each of the last ten years.

Will Quince: The following table shows the National Health Service agency spend for the years 2013/14 to 2020/21. 2021/22 data for agency is yet to be validated and published.YearTotal agency spend £ billion2013/142.552014/153.332015/163.702016/172.932017/182.402018/192.392019/202.382020/212.44 The Department does not hold this data for general practice.

Community Diagnostic Centres

Mr Clive Betts: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what eligibility criteria his Department plan to use to determine (a) where new Community Diagnostic Centres are located and (b) the order in which they are rolled out.

Will Quince: To identify appropriate locations, integrated care systems (ICSs) are required to ensure that proposed sites meet the specifications of being separate from acute diagnostics and are able to accommodate minimum community diagnostic centre (CDC) services.All proposed CDCs go through an approvals process led by systems and NHS England, prior to approval by Ministers.NHS England’s ambition is that each ICS will have at least one standard or large model CDC.The first CDCs to open were early adopter sites that could be stood up quickly with no capital investment requirements, to add much-needed additional diagnostic capacity to address the diagnostic backlog. Where required, these temporary sites are being replaced. There are no other eligibility criteria on the order in which CDCs are being rolled out.

Doctors: Industrial Disputes

Feryal Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has convened formal discussions with the British Medical Association to avert industrial action by junior doctors in March.

Will Quince: On 10 March 2023, the Government invited the British Medical Association (BMA) junior doctors committee (JDC) to enter formal pay negotiations on the condition strikes were paused.My Rt hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care met the BMA JDC on 22 March in the hope of beginning constructive talks to resolve the current dispute. The BMA placed a pre-condition on these talks of a 35% pay rise. This is unreasonable.The Government wants to find a fair settlement which recognises both the crucial role of junior doctors and the wider economic pressures facing the United Kingdom.We are disappointed that the BMA have announced further strike action. They are planning to stage a 96-hour walkout taking place for shifts between 06:59 on Tuesday 11 April and 06:59 on Saturday 15 April. Further strikes will risk patient safety and cause further disruption.Our door remains open to constructive conversations, as we have had with other health unions, to find a realistic way forward which balances rewarding junior doctors for their hard work with being fair to the taxpayer.

NHS: Expenditure

Wes Streeting: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Answer of 12 October 2021 to Question 51702 on NHS: Expenditure, how much NHS England and clinical commissioning groups have spent in aggregate on (a) mental health services, (b) acute health services, (c) social care services, (d) primary care services and (e) other main areas of spending in each financial year since 2015-16; and how much (i) NHS England, (ii) CCGs and (iii) integrated care boards plan to spend in aggregate in each of those areas in 2022-23.

Will Quince: The information requested is in the table attached. As 2022/23 is ongoing, the figures for 2022/23 are based on Annual Budgets from Month 10, not final outturn. We will be able to provide 2022/23 final outturn once NHS England Annual Accounts are finalised in the summer.NHS England expenditure breakdown (xlsx, 16.8KB)

NHS: Domestic Visits

Wes Streeting: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the rules governing visits to NHS estate during local election campaigns are for (a) government and (b) shadow ministers.

Will Quince: Guidance on conduct for civil servants during the May 2023 local election campaigns, including in relation to Ministerial visits and National Health Service property, is available at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/election-guidance-for-civil-servants/may-2023-elections-guidance-on-conduct-for-civil-servantsThe Government does not advise on the conduct or activities of members of opposition parties.

Department of Health and Social Care: Consultants

Angela Rayner: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much his Department spent on consultants for the disposal of personal protective equipment programme, including costs associated with the resolution of disputed contracts, between January 2020 and January 2023.

Will Quince: From April 2022 to January 2023, the Department spent £1,613,305 on consultancy that can be directly attributed to the disposal of goods. It is not possible to calculate the directly attributable costs associated with consultancy working on disposal prior to April 2022.The costs associated with consultancy and contingent labour for the resolution of contracts between April 2022 to January 2023 is expected to be £5.45 million. This activity is responsible for the Department recovering well over £50 million to date, and further cash settlements are expected.

Voluntary Scheme for Branded Medicines Pricing and Access: Disclosure of Information

Daniel Zeichner: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to his Department’s ongoing VPAS pre-negotiation workshops, if he will publish the (a) minutes and (b) attendees of those workshops.

Daniel Zeichner: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to his Department’s ongoing VPAS pre-negotiation workshops, whether he plans to make the outputs of those discussions publicly available.

Will Quince: The objective of the pre-negotiation workshops was to enable a mutual understanding of the impact of the current voluntary scheme for branded medicines pricing and access (VPAS) upon the different organisations represented and to discuss the potential objectives and priorities for a new voluntary scheme. The discussions in the workshops will feed into the upcoming negotiation of a successor to the 2019 VPAS. In order to facilitate a transparent and candid discussion, participants agreed that all contributions and resulting outputs would be kept confidential to those who attended.The following organisations were invited to the workshops:Industry bodies (including representatives of their member companies):- Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry;- British Generic Manufacturers Association;- Ethical Medicines Industry Group;- BioIndustry Association.Patient organisations and civil society organisations:- Cancer52;- The Blood Cancer Alliance;- The Charity Medicines Access Coalition;- National Voices;- The Patients Association;- Alzheimer’s Research UK;- Anthony Nolan;- Cystic Fibrosis Trust;- Genetic Alliance UK;- The Association of Medical Research Charities;- Breast Cancer Now;- Myeloma UK;- Office of Health Economics;- King’s Fund;- NHS Confederation.

Hyoscine Hydrobromide

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will make an assessment of the adequacy of the availability of the drug Scopolamine.

Will Quince: Scopolamine is a brand not marketed in the United Kingdom. The medicine contained in Scopolamine preparations is hyoscine hydrobromide, which is available as tablets, patches, liquids and injections.There is currently a short-term issue with the tablets (marketed in the UK as Kwells®) which is being managed and has been communicated to the National Health Service. The communications provide an overview of the issue and availability of alternative treatment options during this time. We understand the patches (marketed as Scopoderm®) are currently available. We are not aware of a supply issue with liquid or injectable hyoscine hydrobromide.

Health: Finance

Wes Streeting: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much and what proportion of his Department's annual expenditure is being spent on preventing ill health in the 2022-23 financial year.

Will Quince: The information requested is not collected centrally.

NHS: Databases

Tonia Antoniazzi: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure data held on the proposed NHS Federated Data Platform is protected.

Afzal Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he has taken to ensure the NHS Federated Data Platform will follow data protection obligations.

Will Quince: Data processes and systems within the Federated Data Platform (FDP) will need to comply with the Technology Code of Practice, Government Digital Service standards, the Department’s guide to good practice for digital and data-driven health technologies, the Data Protection Act 2018 and the United Kingdom’s General Data Protection Regulation, Information Commissioner’s Office guidance and associated regulations, standards and guidance. To ensure that the FDP complies, the data sharing approach will consist of: a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) for the procurement of the FDP solution; overarching DPIA to articulate the data security and protection principles and lawful bases for deployment; purpose-specific DPIAs, which will be drafted for each use case and will go through the formal approval routes within NHS England prior to roll-out; and a legal mechanism for the sharing and processing of data, to be agreed in consultation with NHS England Information Governance and legal counsel.The above activities will be concurrent and aligned with the procurement process to ensure data protection by design and default principles are embedded, and there is co-production of the final data sharing approach.  This will ensure that the lawful basis for the data sharing is identified, and Common Law Duty of Confidentiality is adhered to for all of the use cases.

Unipart Logistics: Biofuels

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to encourage Unipart Logistics to procure drop-in Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil for (a) the NHS estate and (b) its vehicle fleets to replace diesel.

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he last met with a representative of Unipart Logistics to discuss (a) the NHS' plans to reduce its Carbon Footprint and (b) the use of drop-in Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil to replace diesel across (i) fleets and (ii) stand-by generators across the NHS estate.

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he is taking steps to encourage the use of drop-in hydrotreated vegetable oil in (a) the NHS and (b) NHS vehicle fleets.

Will Quince: Unipart Logistics is a major National Health Service collaborator and meets regularly with Supply Chain Co-ordination Limited to ensure continuous improvement and to deliver supply chain excellence to NHS trusts. The Department’s Ministers have not met Unipart Logistics to specifically discuss the NHS Carbon Footprint or the use of Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) in the NHS.The NHS is committed to reducing its reliance on fossil fuels across its estate and fleet and aims to achieve Net Zero for direct emissions by 2040. As part of this, the NHS is working to increase its use of renewable energy sources. This includes exploring the use of biofuels for fleet and standby generators wherever this is appropriate and cost-effective.I can confirm that the NHS Supply Chain is currently trialling HVO in its vehicles and will be assessing the long-term viability of HVO as a fuel source for its network.

Cystic Fibrosis: Prescriptions

Navendu Mishra: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will include Cystic Fibrosis patients on the medical exemption list to make them eligible for free prescriptions on the NHS.

Will Quince: We presently have no plans to do so. Approximately 89% of prescription items are currently dispensed free of charge and there are a range of exemptions from prescription charges, for which those with cystic fibrosis may be eligible and in receipt of free prescriptions.

Surgical Hubs

Cat Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many surgical hubs are in operation; and what the timescales are for future rollouts of those hubs.

Will Quince: There currently are 87 surgical hubs in operation. NHS England continue to assess sites to ensure they meet the definition of a surgical hub and thus this figure may still be subject to change during this process.In the 2021 Spending Review, the Department agreed £1.5 billion of capital funding over three years as part of a Targeted Investment Fund to support elective recovery, including the rollout of new and expanded hub sites. On this basis, we aim to rollout new and expanded surgical hubs by March 2025.

Hospital Beds: Costs

Liz Kendall: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 1 March 2023 to Question 146908 on Hospital Beds: Costs, what the unit cost per day is for NHS (a) elective, (b) non-elective, (c) high dependency and (d) standard ward beds.

Will Quince: Using cost collection data for 2020/21, the most recently available data, the unit cost per day of NHS hospital beds is as follows:- Elective - £2,349- Non-elective - £901- Critical care - £1,881- Standard bed - £345 The elective and non-elective costs above are the average cost per day in those points of delivery, including treatment costs. Elective care has a higher average per day cost as elective patients often have shorter spells in hospital. Patients who are admitted as non-elective admissions often spend longer in hospital including recovery and days spent waiting for discharge, so whilst the total cost for non-elective treatment is higher than elective treatment, the average per day cost is reduced as it is spread over many more days. Costs for critical care are averages across adults, children, and neonates. The standard bed cost is the average cost of a bed day excluding any treatment costs.

Legionnaires' Disease: Disease Control

Jeff Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the ELDSNet notification system is part of the Memorandum of Understanding agreed upon between the UK Health Security Agency and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control on 1 December 2021.

Jeff Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Memorandum of Understanding between the UK Health Security Agency and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) signed on 1 December 2021 enables UK Tour Operators to regain access to the ECDC’s database in order to be informed of legionella clusters in the EU.

Jeff Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the intended implementation date is of the Memorandum of Understanding agreed by the UK Health Security Agency and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control on 1 December 2021.

Will Quince: On 1 December 2021, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) signed and implemented the Memorandum of Understanding to strengthen the collaboration between the two agencies on communicable diseases prevention and control. Further details on the cooperation activities and areas of mutual interest are set out at the following links:https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/news-events/ecdc-signs-memorandum-understanding-uk-health-security-agency https://www.gov.uk/government/news/ukhsa-signs-memorandum-of-understanding-with-ecdc The European Legionnaires’ Disease Surveillance Network (ELDSNet) notification system is one of the EpiPulse surveillance systems that facilitates collection, analysis and dissemination of indicator- and event-based surveillance data on infectious diseases and associated health issues, including global epidemic intelligence, whole-genome sequencing, and health determinants.Appointed experts from the European Union (EU)/European Economic Area (EEA) and non-EU countries within ECDC’s cooperation framework, and international organisations, can access the EpiPulse platform to report and analyse cases of infectious diseases and pathogens that may threaten public health in the EU/EEA.The United Kingdom has a nominated EpiPulse Focal Point to oversee and manage access as a non-EU country within ECDC’s cooperation framework. Two experts from each of the four nations have been nominated to have access to disease specific domains on ECDC’s EpiPulse platform. EpiPulse incorporates the functions of ELDSNet. UK tour operators do not have access to the database as they are provided only to EU/EEA. Tour operators are advised by ABTA – The Travel Association to liaise with their suppliers and about the importance of following the Legionella 15 point plan to reduce the potential risk of Legionnaires’ disease and to keep accurate records of this as part of their due diligence procedures.Further to the memorandum of understanding, UKHSA and ECDC have worked on a Joint Action Plan to maximise technical cooperation on specific topics to enhance UK health security. This plan is at an advanced stage and is expected to be signed off this year once the Windsor Framework is agreed.

Hospitals: Construction

Wes Streeting: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to announce the locations of the additional hospitals that will be constructed through the new hospital programme.

Will Quince: There are 128 expressions of interest received for the next eight new hospitals from trusts across the country that have been assessed and we aim to make an announcement in due course. Whilst this process is ongoing, we are unable to comment on the location of these hospitals

Doctors: Workplace Pensions

Wes Streeting: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 21 March 2023 to Question 166289 on Doctors: Workplace Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of (a) raising the annual allowance and (b) the abolition of the lifetime allowance on pensions on the number of doctors working for the NHS.

Wes Streeting: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 21 March 2023 to Question 166289 on Doctors: Workplace Pensions, what estimate he has made of the additional number of hours doctors will work in the NHS as a result of (a) raising the annual allowance and (b) the abolition of the lifetime allowance for pensions.

Will Quince: The decision to claim pension benefits or reduce working commitments is a personal one and it is not possible to assess the impact of a specific factor. Estimates based on projected pension scheme data indicate that around 22,000 senior National Health Service clinicians could exceed the previous £40,000 annual allowance in 2023/2024 and that around 31,000 clinicians had reached at least 75% of the £1.073 million lifetime allowance.A survey undertaken by the British Medical Association (BMA) suggested that 72% of doctors will retire earlier because of the previous decision to freeze the lifetime allowance and 61% of respondents stated that they would reduce the amount of work that they do for the NHS.The chair of the BMA’s Pension Committee said that removing the lifetime allowance will be potentially transformative for the NHS as the majority of senior doctors will no longer be forced to retire early and can continue to work within the NHS, providing vital patient care and that the rise in the annual allowance will mean far fewer doctors will receive large pension tax bills and will significantly reduce the perverse incentive to reduce hours due to pension tax.

NHS: Training

Charlotte Nichols: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help protect NHS workforce training budgets as part of the merger of Health Education England and NHS England.

Will Quince: Workforce, including education and training, will be a key priority for NHS England. There will also be robust accountability in place between the Department and NHS England. We will continue to monitor and track expenditure on education and training and will be establishing a Ministerially-chaired board to provide oversight and governance of workforce in NHS England.

Nurses: Recruitment

Charlotte Nichols: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to increase the number of (a) qualified neurologists and (b) multiple sclerosis nurses in England.

Will Quince: As of October 2022, there are 1,672 full-time equivalent neurologists working in the National Health Service. This is an increase of 559 (50.3%) from 10 years ago (October 2012).The Government has created nearly 900 additional medical specialty training posts this year, including five additional training posts for neurology.The Government has funded 1,500 (25%) more medical school places each year for domestic students in England, a 25% increase over three years. This expansion, which was completed in 2020, will increase the supply pipeline in coming years for qualified doctors, including neurologists.The Government is on track to deliver 50,000 more nurses across hospital and general practice settings overall by 2024. Since September 2020, all eligible nursing, midwifery and allied health profession degree students have received a non-repayable training grant of a minimum of £5,000 per academic year. This will increase the pool of nurses who may go on to become specialists in multiple sclerosis.

Surgical Hubs

Cat Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 14 March 2023 to Question 162208 on Surgical Hubs, how many of the surgical hubs (a) are going through accreditation (b) have been refused accreditation and (c) have received accreditation.

Will Quince: There currently are 87 established hubs, but that is subject to change as the Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) team within NHS England proceed with the validation process. The accreditation scheme is open to all hubs and they will be invited to take part in a phased process. Eight surgical hub sites have received GIRFT accreditation as part of the pilot programme and no hubs were refused accreditation. A further nine hubs are planned to go through the next accreditation round commencing in April 2023.

Consultants: Expenditure

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the cost to the public purse was of spending on external consultants by (a) the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, (b) the UK Health Security Agency, (c) NHS England, and (d) NHS Digital in (i) 2020, (ii) 2021 and (iii) 2022; and whether any of that spending related to the preparation of funding bids to (A) his Department and (B) HM Treasury.

Will Quince: Suggested replyThe following table shows the expenditure on consultancy on external consultants in the financial years 2019/20 to 2021/22. Expenditure values for 2022/23 are not yet available. The Department does not hold the detail behind the expenditure.OrganisationExpenditure on consultancy (£ million)2019/202020/212021/22Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA)Not availableNot availableNot availableUK Health Security Agency (UKHSA)Not applicableNot applicable10.0NHS England - Group45.851.675.8NHS Digital1.40.90.3 Note:The definition for consultancy is in line with HM Treasury GuidanceThe Office for National Statistics re-categorised MHRA as falling within the Departmental Group from April 2022. In years 2019/20, 2020/21 and 2021/22 this body was not incorporated into the Department’s accounting boundary and, therefore, the Department does not hold requested data.UKHSA was formed in April 2021 and became fully operational in October 2021.Source:UK Health Security Agency Annual Report and Accounts 2021/22.NHS Commissioning Board Annual Report and Accounts 2019/20, 2020/21 and 2021/22. Expenditure for the NHSE Group including Commissioning Support Units and Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs).NHS Digital Annual Report and Accounts 2019/20, 2020/21 and 2021/22.

Junior Doctors: Suicide

Matt Western: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many cases of suicide amongst junior doctors have been reported each year since 2010.

Matt Western: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the rate of suicides amongst junior doctors.

Will Quince: The table below shows the number of suicides registered for all medical practitioners, aged between 20 and 64 years old, in England in the years 2011 to 2021. A breakdown for junior doctors is not available. YearNumber of suicides202110202020201919201817201718201613201514201418201320201216201113 More information is available at the following link:https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/adhocs/15043suicidebyoccupationenglandandwales2011to2021registrations We are already investing an additional £57 million in suicide prevention by 2023/24 through the National Health Service Long Term Plan. Through this, all areas of the country are seeing investment to support local suicide prevention plans and the development of suicide bereavement services. Last year, we announced our intention to publish a new national suicide prevention strategy. Since then, we have been working to ensure this new strategy reflects the most up to date evidence and will address current challenges, risks, and opportunities to prevent suicide when it is published. We intend to publish the refreshed strategy this year.We are committed to supporting the mental health and wellbeing of the NHS workforce. The NHS is providing ongoing physical and mental health support for staff. This includes NHS Practitioner Health, which provides free access to targeted psychological support and treatment for healthcare professionals.

Nurses: Conditions of Employment and Pay

Fleur Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions he has had with the Royal College of Nursing’s General Secretary on (a) pay and (b) conditions for nurses.

Will Quince: The Government held intensive talks on pay and non-pay matters with unions, including the Royal College of Nursing, between 22 February and 16 March 2023. Following those talks the Government put forward a best and final offer on pay and conditions. That offer includes additional non-consolidated payments for 2022/23 on top of the consolidated pay rise staff members have already received and a consolidated pay rise of at least 5% in 2023/24. The Royal College of Nursing has recommended to their members that they accept the Government’s offer.

NHS: Life Sciences

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has published recent guidance for small and medium-sized enterprises in the life sciences sector on accessing NHS procurement contracts; and whether his Department is taking steps to ensure that competition between large and small organisations for NHS procurement contracts is fair.

Will Quince: Procurement within the National Health Service is conducted within the rules of the Government’s Public Contracts Regulations 2015, which stipulates that all suppliers are treated fairly and equally in the procurement process. Procurement Policy Notes (PPNs) also provide provisions to allow contracting authorities not to unfairly exclude small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). In November 2020, PPN 11/20 published Reserving Below Threshold Procurements, allowing contracting authorities to restrict certain threshold procurements for SMEs, which is available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/procurement-policy-note-1120-reserving-below-threshold-procurements PPN 01/23 Requirements to Publish on Contracts Finder, published in January 2023, reminded contracting authorities to publish all contract opportunities on Contract Finder. For NHS trusts and Foundation trusts this is set at £30,000. SMEs are critical to the NHS Supply Chain, and the NHS is fully committed to supporting SMEs so they can supply to the NHS. NHS England is establishing a strategic supplier relationship programme to help build and enhance our relationship with NHS suppliers, including SMEs.

Protective Clothing: China

Angela Rayner: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the cost of storing personal protective equipment in China is per (a) day, (b) week and (c) year as of 15 March 2023.

Will Quince: Storage costs data for personal protective equipment are compiled on a monthly basis and the latest collated figures relate to January 2023. The cost of storing items in warehouses in China was £25.9 million in the year from February 2022 to January 2023. The daily cost of storage has fallen from £63,000 in February 2022 to £30,000 in January 2023.

NHS: Strikes

Matt Western: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill on annual dismissal rates of NHS workers.

Will Quince: There is a clear and urgent need for this legislation. Recent strikes have demonstrated the disproportionate impacts strikes can have on the public. This legislation is about protecting the lives and livelihoods of the public by maintaining minimum levels of service on strike days. It is not about dismissing people from their jobs and so it is likely to have a negligible impact on rates of dismissal.The impact assessment for the Strikes (Minimum Service Level) Bill has now been published. A final stage impact assessment on the secondary regulations will be published before any minimum service level regulations apply to National Health Service workers.

Health Professions: Labour Turnover

Bell Ribeiro-Addy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information his Department holds on how many (a) junior doctors, (b) consultants and (c) nurses have left the healthcare profession in each of the last five years, and whether he has made an assessment of the consequences for his policies of changes in the levels of such staff leaving the profession.

Will Quince: NHS England, formerly NHS Digital, publishes data quarterly on staff who leave active service in National Health Service trusts. This will include people moving to social care, primary care and private providers. The following table shows the leaver rates and the number of nurses leaving the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) register and doctors who no longer hold a licence to practice on the General Medical Council register in the United Kingdom. This is a better measure for understanding numbers leaving the healthcare profession.PeriodDoctorsNurses20189,450 (3.8%)27,552 (4.2%)20199,667 (3.7%)25,801 (3.9%)20206,894 (2.5%)22,508 (3.3%)20219,825 (3.5%)24,480 (3.5%)2022N.A25,285 (3.5%)Note: Nursing data is for the year to September whilst Doctors data is for the year to December. Published GMC data does not provide a breakdown by doctor grade. Percentages calculated by the Department. Rates for Nurses have been calculated by dividing number of leavers by the number of registered nurses for the year to September. Rates for Doctors have been calculated by dividing doctors who no longer hold a licence by the number of total licenced doctors.No specific assessment has been made. However, the NHS workforce continues to grow. As at December 2022 there were 2,732 (4.3%) more full-time equivalent (FTE) junior doctors, 1,660 (3.2%) more FTE consultants, and 11,086 (3.6%) more FTE nurses in Hospital and Community Health Settings than that the previous year.

Voluntary Scheme for Branded Medicines Pricing and Access

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the consultation outcome on Proposed update to the 2023 statutory scheme to control the costs of branded health service medicines, what steps he taking to help secure an agreement that will deliver increased (a) access to medicines, (b) funding in research and development and (c) value for money for the NHS.

Will Quince: The recent update to the statutory scheme will ensure the continued affordability of the National Health Service medicines budget and will maintain the longstanding policy of broad commercial equivalence between the statutory scheme and the voluntary scheme for branded medicines pricing and access (VPAS). By controlling growth in the cost of medicines we ensure value for money for the taxpayer and enable the NHS to continue investing in patient access to new medicines.The Government remains firmly committed to VPAS and to the negotiation of a successor scheme that supports better patient outcomes, including access to new medicines; that ensures the sustainability of NHS spend on branded medicines; and that enables a strong United Kingdom life sciences industry.  To this end, I have held roundtable discussions regarding the future voluntary scheme with a number of trade associations and leading companies, and the Department has held a series of workshops with industry bodies, patient organisations and civil society organisations.

Health Education

Wes Streeting: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of his Department's annual budget (a) will be spent on prevention of ill health in 2022-23 and (b) was spent on prevention of ill health in each of the last five years.

Neil O'Brien: The information requested is not collected centrally.

General Practitioners: Armed Forces

Afzal Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information his Department holds on how many Army medical forms for (a) full time and (b) reservist recruitments were submitted to GPs in the last 12 months; and what the average length of time was between those forms being (i) submitted and (ii) returned completed in (A) Manchester, (B) the North West and (C) England.

Neil O'Brien: Neither the Department nor NHS England hold central information with regards to the number of Army medical forms submitted to general practices in England in the last 12 months.

Cystic Fibrosis and Sickle Cell Diseases: Health Services

Janet Daby: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what was the cost to the public purse of (a) research, (b) new treatments and (c) clinical care for (i) sickle cell disease and (ii) cystic fibrosis in the 2022-23 financial year.

Neil O'Brien: The Department funds health and care research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). In the 2022/23 financial year, so far, NIHR Programmes have spent nearly £1.7 million on sickle cell disease research and nearly £2.7 million on cystic fibrosis research.There has also been one specialised clinical trial assured for sickle cell disease since the publication of the Excess Treatment Costs guidance, however, it is not possible to separate costs for patients on the trial from costs relating to standard care treatment.New innovative treatments, such as Crizanlizumab for sickle cell disease, are subject to National Institute for Health and Care Excellence commercial confidentiality agreements. There have been no new treatments for cystic fibrosis commencing during 2022/23.Regarding treatment costs, there is a range of care and treatments available for sickle cell disease, which is not split by diagnosis, and therefore cannot be separately identified. The following table shows total expenditure on drugs and clinical care for cystic fibrosis.YearHigh-cost drugsClinical care2021/22 (full year)£438,042.681£127,585,9862022/23 to M11 (Feb 23)£470,103,672£120,136,690Source: NHS Contract monitoring information

Healthy Start Scheme: Costs

Andrew Western: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an estimate of the cost to the public purse of increasing the Healthy Start Allowance by 20 per cent.

Neil O'Brien: The Department has no current plans to make an estimate of the cost to the public purse of increasing the Healthy Start value by 20%.

Dental Services: Cancer

Andrew Western: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of providing free dentistry to people with cancer.

Neil O'Brien: No assessment has been made.

Dental Services: Contracts

Navendu Mishra: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he will hold discussions with the British Dental Association on NHS dental contracts and the retention of dentists.

Neil O'Brien: We have regular discussions with the British Dental Association, other organisations in the dental sector and organisations representing dental patients to support and improve National Health Service dental care.Stakeholders were integral to the development of ‘Our plan for patients’, announced in September 2022. This plan outlines how we will meet oral health needs and increase access to NHS dental care. This included improving the 2006 contract to ensure fairer remuneration for practices providing complex treatment, issuing clear guidance on how often patients should expect to attend for check-ups and enabling dentists to make better use of dental teams to deliver NHS treatment. Working together with stakeholders, these changes were implemented through regulations that came into effect on 25 November 2022.NHS England is holding further discussions with the British Dental Association and the wider dental sector to set out plans for additional reforms of the NHS Dental System shortly.

Dental Services: Stockport

Navendu Mishra: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of the provision of dentistry in Stockport in (a) 2018, (b) 2020 and (c) 2022.

Neil O'Brien: The Department routinely monitors dental statistics, published by NHS Digital, which brings together information on National Health Service dental activity in England, including at NHS Commissioning Regions and Local Authority levels. NHS Dental Statistics for England, 2021-22 is available at the following link:https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-dental-statistics/2021-22-annual-report

Hospices: Energy

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of funding allocated to hospices to assist with energy bills.

Helen Whately: Although no assessment has been made specifically in regard to hospices, following a Treasury-led review, the new Energy Bill Discount Scheme, which will run from April 2023 until March 2024, will continue to provide a discount to eligible non-domestic customers, including the health and care sector.At a national level, NHS England has released £1.5 billion in additional funding to integrated care boards (ICBs) to provide support for inflation, with ICBs deciding how best to distribute this funding within their system, including to palliative and end of life care providers such as hospices.Palliative and end of life care, including hospice care, is commissioned locally by ICBs in response to the needs of their local population. Any assessment would therefore be made at a local level.

Ministry of Justice

Members: Correspondence

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when he plans to reply to the correspondence from the hon. Member for East Londonderry of 2 March 2023 on non-disclosure of legal aid costs.

Mike Freer: The Ministry of Justice takes the handling of correspondence seriously and in this instance, due to an administrative error, there was a delay in responding. We apologise for the delay and will respond to the correspondence in question within one week.

Powers of Attorney

Beth Winter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many applications for Lasting Power of Attorney were registered in (a) less than 10 weeks, (b) 10 to 20 weeks, (c) more than 20 weeks in the last 12 months.

Mike Freer: Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPA) applications are registered by the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG). After LPAs are registered, they then need to be dispatched to applicants. The full application process therefore starts from the date an application is received by OPG (this is the date that OPG receives payment for the LPA application), and the application process ends on the dispatch date. Monthly data for 2022 shows that the average time to register and dispatch an LPA application was at its highest in October, at just over 20 weeks (102.22 working days), and this has since trended downwards to just under 18 weeks (89 working days) in February 2023. OPG remains focussed on making further progress.The below data excludes Enduring Powers of Attorney (EPA) applications which, while valid, were replaced by LPAs after the Mental Capacity Act 2005 came into effect from 1 October 2007. A week is defined as ‘working days’, i.e. excluding weekends and bank holidays. Applications may take longer to be registered if they contain errors that need to be rectified by the customer.Within the last 12 months, OPG has registered and then dispatched LPAs as follows: Number of LPA applications dispatched in:MonthLess than 10 Weeks10 to 20 WeeksMore than 20 WeeksMar-228768,5558,173Apr-2218554,6045,115May-2211063,8954,259Jun-2238460,5564,398Jul-2214755,6255,573Aug-2237752,4338,434Sep-2215972,8937,810Oct-2216969,24711,221Nov-2223081,8029,246Dec-2231772,7415,439Jan-2333390,2095,453Feb-2319962,5004,942The OPG is recovering from a backlog which was created during the pandemic and is facing high demand to process LPA applications. Customers are currently advised to allow up to 20 weeks for LPA applications to be processed. This includes the statutory four-week waiting period and any queries that may need to be resolved. OPG’s target to register LPAs is within an average of eight weeks. To work towards that target, OPG staff are working shift patterns to register LPAs, extra staff have been hired, and process efficiencies have been implemented.

HM Courts Service: Data Protection

Karl Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of calls to the Courts Service were requests for information on claimant data in the latest period for which data is available.

Mike Freer: The information requested is not held centrally.

Sanctions

Angela Rayner: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department has any record of public contracts being awarded to suppliers on the UK Sanctions List between 1 January 2021 and 31 January 2023.

Mike Freer: The Ministry of Justice has not awarded any contracts to entities (suppliers) on the UK Sanctions list between 01 January 2021 and 31 January 2023.

Prisons: Electronic Government

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 21 March to Question 165469 on Prisons: Electronic Government, how a constituent can contact the Money-to-prisoner Compliance Team to report a suspected fraud.

Damian Hinds: A constituent can contact the Money-to-prisoner Compliance team via the following email address: MTPCompliance@justice.gov.uk should they wish to report suspected fraud.Constituents may also use this link to report any suspected fraudulent activity: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/tackling-fraud-bribery-and-corruption-in-the-ministry-of-justice.

Community Orders: Crime Prevention

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to help build the confidence of people serving community pay back and prevent reoffending.

Damian Hinds: Community Payback is the key punitive requirement available to sentencers when handing down court-ordered community sentences. These requirements are managed by the Probation Service and are delivered separately to police-monitored unpaid work schemes which provide restorative justice for people undertaking out of court disposals.Community Payback is an important way for offenders serving their sentence in the community to give back to the communities they have harmed, by undertaking demanding work that is valuable to their local area. It can also be an important rehabilitative tool by equipping offenders with back to work skills, such as learning new vocational trades and building pro-social skills with placement beneficiaries (often charities) and Community Payback teams.Certain eligible offenders, namely those who are unemployed or ‘at risk’ of unemployment, may be required to undertake formal education, training and employment (ETE) activity and programmes. This is limited to up to 30% of their imposed hours.Improving educational, training and employment outcomes is part of our relaunch of Community Payback, which this Government is delivering with up to £93million additional funding This includes an online learning portal for offenders to access educational and vocational courses, enabling offenders to gain skills relevant to industries as where they will receive certification on completion of a course that can be shown to employers. Currently, there are three mandatory courses which are designed to help offenders with employment opportunities and develop skills for work. In the future, the online courses will be tailored to industries where there are significant labour shortages.

Community Orders: Durham

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of hours of community payback are yet to be served in the Durham Constabulary area.

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people have been sentenced to community payback but are yet to serve that sentence in the Durham Constabulary area.

Damian Hinds: The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Department for Work and Pensions

Members: Correspondence

Sir Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when his Department plans to reply to correspondence of 10 February from the Rt Hon. Member for East Ham, reference ST102732.

Mims Davies: The Complaint Resolution Teams aims to deal with correspondence from Members of Parliament, within 15 working days, in line with Cabinet Office guidelines. There may be occasions when we cannot meet this however, we will always try to keep the MP updated if this is the case. The case in question is a complex case that requires additional time to find an adequate solution. A written update has been sent in the post which includes contact details for the team leading on this case who can provide more details.

Support for Mortgage Interest

Ian Mearns: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the impact of the Bank of England Base Rate increases on the Support for Mortgage Interest Scheme (SMI); and whether he plans to uprate the interest rate of 2.09 per cent on which the SMI payments are calculated.

Ian Mearns: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of fixing the interest rate used to determine payments under the Support for Mortgage Interest scheme to a set amount above the Bank of England Base Rate to better reflect the impact on those in receipt of SMI.

Mims Davies: The interest rate we pay for SMI is based on the Bank of England published average mortgage rate.  We do not align payment to the base rate because this would lead to uncertainty for both borrower and lender as well as increasing the administrative burden. An increase to the rate paid through the SMI scheme was triggered on Wednesday 29th March 2023.This rate increased from 2.09% to 2.65% and will be implemented on 10th May 2023. Any further changes to the standard interest rate will only occur when the Bank of England average mortgage rate differs by 0.5 percentage points or more from the rate in payment. We currently have no plans to amend the calculation of SMI. We have selected the Bank of England’s published average rate because it is the average interest rate that applies to outstanding mortgages, including fixed and variable mortgages. The Bank of England data is the most reliable as it is based on information that covers over 75% of all banks and building societies’ mortgage business. It is also updated on a regular (monthly) basis. If we were to base the rate we pay on the Bank of England Base rate, we would pay over and above the average interest rate paid by fixed rate mortgage holders. Conversely, the rate would be too low when the base rate is set at a low level such as the 0.1 base rate between March 2020 and December 2021.

Sector-based Work Academy Programme

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many sector-based work academy programme placements have been undertaken in (a) Feltham and Heston, (b) Hounslow, (c) Greater London, (d) England, since the start of the scheme.

Guy Opperman: Sector-based work academies were first launched in August 2011 in England and January 2012 in Scotland. Regular statistical releases on sector-based work academies, covering participation by those on legacy unemployment benefits, began in 2011 and ended in 2017. These statistics can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/employment-schemes-work-experience-sector-based-work-academy-and-skills-conditionality-starts-to-november-2017 The scheme was relaunched as ‘SWAP’ in July 2020 as part of the government’s Plan for Jobs. Due to data limitations, we are unable to provide a geographical breakdown for SWAPs that took place before the start of the 2021/22 financial year. Data for the financial years 2021/22 and 2022/23 shows that as of 12th March 2023, there was a total of 179,000 starts to a Sector-based Work Academy Programme (SWAP). The breakdown of these starts by the regions specified and by financial year is displayed in the following table: Table 1: SWAP starts Starts FY 2021/22 Starts FY 2022/23 – up to 12th March 2023Total Starts(a) Feltham and Heston260290560(b) Hounslow5205301040(c) Greater London152001630031500(d) England6650073400139800 Notes on the data:Attached are tables listing the number of SWAP starts to date by Country, Region, Local Authority and Parliamentary Constituency. The figures used are correct as of 12th March 2023 and these figures have been rounded according to departmental standards. These figures reflect the number of starts by claimants in receipt of Universal Credit (UC), Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA), Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) or Income Support (IS). It is important to note that the information provided shows the current home location of the person who has started a SWAP. For starts by those in receipt of JSA, ESA or IS, due to data limitations a location cannot be assigned to these starts and as such they are categorised as unknown within the figures. SWAPs are run in England and Scotland, where a person’s current home location is outside of this they have also been categorised as unknown. Although care is taken when processing and recording SWAP starts, the data collected might be subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any clerical recording system, but is provided in the interests of transparency.Attachment  (xlsx, 47.7KB)

Jobcentres: Staff

Sir Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how job centre work coaches are trained to understand the circumstances of working parents and disabled people when setting in-work progression requirements; and if he will make a statement.

Guy Opperman: All new entrant work coaches undergo a work coach learning journey which includes learning products on health and supporting claimants with disabilities which equips work coaches with tools, knowledge, skills, and behaviours to enable them to support individuals moving closer to the working environment. This includes childcare modules to support working lone parents. From October 2022 in work progression (IWP) work coaches have received tailored learning to support people with individual circumstances, including lone parents in-work and disabled people.

Cold Weather Payments and Winter Fuel Payment

Kenny MacAskill: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department plans to review the value of the (a) winter fuel payment and (b) cold weather payment in the context of increases in cost of fuel and energy.

Laura Trott: In recognition of the current high cost of living, pensioners who are entitled to a winter fuel payment in 2022/23 and 2023/24 have received, or will receive, an extra Cost of Living Payment of £300 per household. The combined winter fuel and Cost of Living Payments are therefore £500 for households containing someone between State Pension age and 79, and £600 for those containing someone aged 80 or over. There are currently no plans to review the current value of Cold Weather Payments paid to eligible people in England and Wales. The Scottish Government has introduced the Winter Heating Payment scheme, to replace Cold Weather Payments for people living in Scotland.

State Retirement Pensions: British Nationals Abroad

Wendy Chamberlain: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many UK pensioners living overseas had their pensions suspended in (a) 2019, (b) 2020, (c) 2021 due to (i) non-return and (ii) late return of life certificates, broken down by country of residence.

Laura Trott: DWP holds data relating to the late and non-return of a Life Certificate for the 2019 period, which resulted in the temporary suspension of a customer’s State Pension payments. In 2019, 26,206 claims were temporarily suspended, which is broken down by country as shown in the following table: -  CountryNumber of State Pension claims temporarily suspended in 2019 due to the late or non-return of a completed Life Certificate India1,280Uganda65Iceland11Costa Rica24Ukraine21Gambia37Jamaica2,269Nigeria1,265Venezuela39Sierra Leone35Dominican Republic30Ecuador52Greece539Bulgaria256Poland116Netherlands624Hong Kong124Fiji4Anguilla9Jordan13Montserrat14Malawi4Canada15,798Cook Islands0Norfolk Islands3Papua New Guinea11Western Samoa2Ascension Island1Lesotho8Dominica277South Korea52Oman55Lebanon35Romania69Peru33Serbia63Namibia26Libya3Tonga4Cape Verde Islands5Belarus2Bangladesh473Mauritius125Azerbaijan4Kazakhstan2Vietnam74Virgin Islands (British)25Estonia10Taiwan19Panama36Uruguay19Kuwait28Liechtenstein6Antilles (Netherlands)11St Kitts & Nevis76Switzerland1,529Brazil164Vanuatu11Bolivia30Cambodia37Nepal26Brunei9Bosnia Herzegovina7Ethiopia14Iran14Hungary127Swaziland29Russia23  As a result of the outbreak of COVID in 2020, DWP suspended the Life Certificate exercise in March 2020, to ensure that our customers were not negatively impacted by any postal service issues which could have resulted in their State Pension payments being temporarily suspended. Therefore, DWP does not hold any data for this period. DWP reintroduced the Life Certificate exercise in November 2021. Therefore, DWP does not hold any data for 2021, as any potential suspensions would be applied after 16 weeks of issue of the Life Certificate, which would mean that the suspension occurred in 2022. The Management Information used has been taken from the same operational source data systems as our published administrative data. However, as this Management Information is not a recognised National or Official Statistic, it has not been subjected to the same level of Quality Assurance. As a result, these figures should be treated with caution.

Restart Scheme

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to promote the Restart programme to employers.

Guy Opperman: Restart Scheme providers are required to maintain strong working relationships with key stakeholders including both local and national employers. This ensures that the Restart Scheme’s offer is complementary to local efforts to help long-term unemployed claimants progress into sustained employment. All Restart Scheme providers are contracted to have employer engagement teams as part of their business model.

Jobcentre Plus: Public Sector and Voluntary Organisations

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many (a) public sector and (b) voluntary organisations have entered into partnerships with Jobcentre Plus in the last 12 months.

Guy Opperman: The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

Universal Credit: Databases

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what data his Department collects on Universal Credit claimants' (a) pay and (b) career progression.

Guy Opperman: The Department collects earnings data from claimants, including data received from HMRC, to allow for the operation of Universal Credit. Data collected includes HMRC Real Time Earnings for employees and other earnings reported by claimants to DWP. We do not routinely collect data on career progression.

Universal Credit: Disqualification

Sir Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of replacing the first sanction for someone claiming Universal Credit with a formal warning; and if he will make a statement.

Guy Opperman: Evidence from a previous Early Warning trial in 2016 showed the cost of the warning system outweighed the benefits. Since then, we have completed two small-scale proofs of concept to test a simple warning process and currently have no plans to run another test. The Department is focusing its efforts on intensifying the support we offer to get people back to work and into good jobs. The majority of sanctions are for failing to attend a meeting with a work coach and these can be quickly resolved by booking and attending another meeting.

Employment: Students

Alison McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant the Answer of 17 March 2023 to Question 162174 on Employment, whether his Department's review into workforce participation will look into the workforce participation of students.

Guy Opperman: The Secretary of State for the Department for Work and Pensions was asked to lead work across Government to look in detail at the issue of participation in the labour market. As part of this work, the Department reviewed data to better understand the reasons behind economic inactivity. This included looking at students.

Universal Credit (Persons who have Attained State Pension Credit Qualifying Age) (Amendment) Regulations 2020

Wendy Chamberlain: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has provided recent guidance to decision makers on the application of the Universal Credit (Persons who have attained state pension credit qualifying age) (Amendment) Regulations 2020.

Guy Opperman: I can confirm the Department has published guidance on this subject and details are available within the Advice for Decision Making (ADM) on Gov.uk.

Jobcentres: Staff

Sir Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he plans to introduce specialist Jobcentre Plus Work Coaches with expertise on supporting single parents.

Guy Opperman: Our Jobcentre teams are committed to delivering a quality service to ensure all claimants, including single parents, receive the best possible support that takes account of their individual circumstances. There are no current plans to introduce specialist Work Coaches for single parents. Work Coaches undergo a comprehensive learning journey designed to equip them with the tools, skills and behaviours required to provide a high quality, efficient service to all claimants. They receive on-going learning in their roles and have access to guidance which is refreshed at regular intervals. We are however continuously reviewing the service claimants receive to ensure that it is responsive to their needs. In relation to a core need of parents seeking to work or work more, we have established networks of childcare champions and childcare subject matter experts who are upskilling our teams to be able to promote the Universal Credit childcare offer and explain how it fits with other relevant help with childcare.

Jobcentres: Staff

Sir Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential for Work Coaches or other Jobcentre Plus staff to support employers to job carve, to create roles suitable for single parents seeking to balance work with parenting responsibilities; and if he will make a statement.

Guy Opperman: It is for employers to consider the specifics of job design. This government however recognises the importance of flexible work for parents and is supporting the Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Bill throughout its journey in Parliament. Childcare is also important for working parents. We have just announced a generous new offer for parents needing childcare to work, to be rolled out starting this year. We are increasing the Universal Credit childcare cap to £951 for one child (up from £646) and £1,630 for two children (up from £1,108). We will also be paying parents on Universal Credit childcare support up-front when they are moving into work or increasing their hours, rather than in arrears, removing a key barrier for low-income families. In addition, from April 2024 we will be increasing the free childcare available to working parents in England in a staged rollout, so that by September 2025 all working parents of children aged 9 months up to 3 years old will be able to access 30 hours free childcare per week.

Children: Maintenance

Andrew Bridgen: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, on how many occasions the Child Maintenance Service requested a death certificate for a paying parent where the cause of death was defined as suicide in each of the last four years; and how many deaths of paying parents were recorded in that period.

Mims Davies: The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost. When notified of a customer death within Child Maintenance, there is a process to be followed to take the appropriate action on the case. This includes verifying the death of the customer. Requesting a copy of the death certificate is one such way of verifying a customer’s death, but if the death has been reported and verified elsewhere then the cross-government computer system called Customer Information System (CIS) will be updated, meaning further evidence is not required for Child Maintenance purposes. We cannot readily identify from data sources whether a copy of a death certificate is held on a case so providing accurate data would involve manually reviewing every case where a customer has died.

Cost of Living Payments: Visual Impairment

Alex Norris: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to support (a) visually impaired children and (b) their families with the cost of living.

Tom Pursglove: The Government understands the pressures people, including families with a disabled child or children, are facing with the cost of living. Children with a visual impairment may be entitled to Disability Living Allowance (DLA), which is a contribution towards the extra costs associated with being disabled. Recipients are free to choose how they spend DLA, and there is no requirement for them to use it for any particular purpose. Entitlement to DLA depends on the effects that a disability or health condition has on a child’s life and not on a particular disability or diagnosis. DLA can passport families to a range of additional support including:o Child disability additions paid within income related benefits;o Carer’s Allowance for an informal carer;o The Motability vehicle scheme; ando The Blue Badge scheme. DLA also exempts the eligible household from the Benefit Cap. In April, we are uprating benefit rates and State Pensions by 10.1%. In order to increase the number of households who can benefit from these uprating decisions, the benefit cap levels are also increasing by the same amount. In addition, for 2023/24, households on eligible means-tested benefits will get up to £900 in Cost of Living Payments. This will be split into three payments across the 2023/24 financial year, with the first payment of £301 being made between 25 April and 17 May. A separate £150 payment will be made to individuals in receipt of eligible disability benefits, including DLA, in the summer. Further to this, the Energy Price Guarantee will be extended from April 2023 until the end of March 2024, meaning a typical household bill will be around £3,000 per year in Great Britain. The Household Support Fund will continue until March 2024. This year long extension allows local authorities in England to continue to provide discretionary support to those most in need with the significantly rising cost of living. The guidance for local authorities for this next iteration has now been published and can be found here: 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024: Household Support Fund guidance for county councils and unitary authorities in England - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). The devolved administrations will receive consequential funding as usual to spend at their discretion.

Pensions: Terminal Illnesses

Lloyd Russell-Moyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department plans to take steps to (a) expedite and (b) simplify the pension claiming process for people diagnosed with terminal illnesses.

Laura Trott: For those at the end of their life, the Government’s priority is providing financial support quickly and compassionately. The main way that the Department does this is through special benefit rules, sometimes referred to as “the Special Rules”. These enable people who are nearing the end of their lives to get faster, easier access to certain benefits, without needing to attend a medical assessment, serve waiting periods and in most cases, receive the highest rate of benefit. For many years, the Special Rules have applied to people who have 6 months or less to live and now they are being changed so they apply to people who have 12 months or less to live. There are no plans to change how the State Pension claiming process operates.

Occupational Health

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the policy paper entitled Transforming Support: The Health and Disability White Paper published on 15 March 2023, what estimate his Department has made of the cost of testing a financial incentive and support model to encourage employers to purchase occupational health services.

Tom Pursglove: Access to Occupational Health (OH) services can play an important role in reducing economic inactivity by supporting disabled people, and people with health conditions, to stay and succeed in work. The Government has committed to testing a financial incentive and market navigation support scheme, to gather evidence on whether this is effective in increasing access to OH for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and the self-employed. In the Spring Budget, the Government announced it will expand the forthcoming OH financial incentive and market navigation test. There is up to £25 million available to test a small-scale financial incentive alongside market navigation support tools to encourage the uptake of OH services. This test is currently in development and is being designed through iterative user testing.

Access to Work Programme: Self-employed

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many contractors and freelancers have benefitted from the Access to Work scheme in each of the last five financial years.

Tom Pursglove: The information requested about the number of contractors and freelancers who have received Access to Work support is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

Access to Work Programme

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the policy paper entitled Transforming Support: The Health and Disability White Paper published on 15 March 2023, when he expects to deliver the Access to Work digital service.

Tom Pursglove: At the moment, the Access to Work service is a mix of newer web applications, older legacy systems and clerical channels – all of which we will transform as we iterate the end to end journey:There is currently an online application which we are working to improve. We have ensured it is more usable, fully accessible and gathers information in the right way to enable quick and consistent decision making. This redesigned journey is currently under development and should be available for all users in May/June 2023.We have already built a new online claim journey which enables users to submit claims online, view previously submitted claims, and see how much of their grant is left. This is currently being tested with a few hundred users and we expect to expand the scope of this testing, when it will be available for all users, in April/May 2023. This will provide citizens with a new digital channel by which to claim their grant – supplementing the current paper form which they can continue to use if they wish.At the same time, we are designing a new digital product to replace the legacy case management system which colleagues currently use to award and pay the grant. This will streamline and structure the decision-making process, ensuring citizens get support faster, as well as delivering an improved experience for colleagues. While this is currently still at the design and testing phase we expect to start development work on this in June 2023.

Work Capability Assessment

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the decision to scrap Work Capability Assessments on people receiving (a) Employment and Support Allowance and (b) the health-related elements of Universal Credit who do not receive Personal Independence Payment or Disability Living Allowance.

Tom Pursglove: We will put protections in place to ensure that no one experiences financial loss at the point at which the reform is enacted. For the group who receive the Limited Capability for Work and Work-Related Activity (LCWRA) payment, but not Personal Independence Payment, there will be transitional protection at the point that they move to the new system. We are committed to protecting those claimants who are currently treated as LCWRA due to pregnancy risk, or because they are about to receive, receiving, or recovering from, treatment for cancer by way of chemotherapy or radiotherapy. We will provide explicit provision to allow these claimants to access the new UC health top-up, even when they are not in receipt of PIP. These reforms will be rolled out on a gradual, geographical basis, starting with new claims from 2026/27 and reaching existing claims from 2029 onwards at the earliest.

State Retirement Pensions: Women

Sir George Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 16 January to Question 117888 on State Retirement Pensions: Females, if he will meet with the hon. Member for Knowsley, Dr Scutt and a representative group of women affected by state pension changes to discuss the matter of settlements.

Laura Trott: The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman has not completed his investigation into communication of changes to women’s state pension. It would be inappropriate to discuss this matter whilst it is ongoing. Section 7(2) of the Parliamentary Commissioner Act 1967 states that Ombudsman investigations “shall be conducted in private”. The Department is cooperating fully with the PHSO in their investigation.

Social Security Benefits: Uprating

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of providing additional financial support for people receiving benefits before benefit rates are increased in June 2023.

Mims Davies: All benefits and State Pensions will be increased by 10.1% from April. In addition, we are providing cost of living payments of up to £900 for households on eligible means-tested benefits, paid in three separate payments of £301, £300 and £299 across 2023/24. The first payment of £301 will be paid to the majority of those eligible between 25 April and 17 May. Separately, people on qualifying disability benefits will receive a separate Disability Cost of Living Payment of £150 in the summer while £300 payments will be made to pensioner households alongside the annual Winter Fuel Payment. As announced in the Spring Statement, the government is maintaining the Energy Price Guarantee at £2,500 until the end of June. This will ensure that households across the UK are supported through the spring while retail energy costs are expected to remain high. To help households with the costs of essentials, including those who may not be eligible for cost of living payments, we are also extending the Household Support Fund in England. The Devolved Administrations will receive Barnett funding to spend at their discretion and with their local knowledge.

Universal Credit

Lloyd Russell-Moyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make the eligibility criteria for Universal Credit the same as for Housing Benefit.

Guy Opperman: There are no plans to amend the Universal Credit eligibility criteria at this time.

Pensioners: Universal Credit

Wendy Chamberlain: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many requests for mandatory reconsideration were made on the basis of a Universal Credit run on payment not being made during the assessment period in which a Claimant reached the state pension age in (a) 2021 and (b) 2022.

Guy Opperman: The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

Cost of Living Payments: Self-employed

Tony Lloyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the ability of self employed people to access cost of living payments.

Tony Lloyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans he has to ensure that self employed people are able to access cost of living payments.

Mims Davies: Self-employed people on a low income could be eligible for cost of living payments of up to £900 if they are entitled to a means-tested benefit, such as Universal Credit, in the relevant qualifying period. To qualify for the first payment of £301 an individual would need to have been entitled to a payment of either Universal Credit for an assessment period ending between 26 January and 25 February 2023 a payment of another DWP means-tested benefit for any day between 26 January and 25 February 2023; or have received (or later be found to have been entitled to) a payment of tax credits for any day in the same period. As with the first payment, the qualifying dates for the second and third payments of £300 and £299 will be set out in secondary legislation and announced once these regulations have been made. We have kept the eligibility rules for the cost of living payments as simple as possible in order to deliver them promptly and accurately. Whatever eligibility dates are selected there will be always be some individuals who are ineligible in the qualifying period – whether that is due for example to their earnings, capital or other income, or for a combination of reasons. Our decision to make three separate payments over 2023/24 will however reduce the chance of someone missing out altogether. To help households with the costs of essentials, including those who may not be eligible for cost of living payments, we are also extending the Household Support Fund in England. The Devolved Administrations will receive Barnett funding to spend at their discretion and with their local knowledge.

Department for Business and Trade

Department for Business and Trade: Disability

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether his Department has a Ministerial disability champion.

Nigel Huddleston: The Department for Business and Trade has appointed Minister Hollinrake as Ministerial Disability Champion.

Department for Business and Trade: Disability

Jonathan Reynolds: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether her Department has appointed a Ministerial Disability Champion.

Nigel Huddleston: The Department for Business and Trade has appointed Minister Hollinrake as Ministerial Disability Champion.

Squatting

John Stevenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether her Department has taken steps to create disincentives against spurious claims of Adverse Possession.

John Stevenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether she has made an assessment of the impact of claims of Adverse Possession on land and homeowners.

Kevin Hollinrake: HM Land Registry has operational responsibility for considering land registration applications based on adverse possession. Applicants must lodge formal evidence in the form of a statutory declaration or statement of truth to support their claim. HM Land Registry investigates the validity of such claims by undertaking site inspections and serving notice on affected parties. Any person who makes a fraudulent claim can be prosecuted under the Fraud Act 2006. Most claims of adverse possession are undisputed and relate to small areas of land between adjoining landowners which have been occupied for many years. They are a means to regularise ownership.

Cosmetics: Chemicals

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 27 April 2022 to Question 157481 on chemicals, what tests have been conducted on imported and ecommerce consumer products for the presence of lysmeral above legal concentration limits.

Kevin Hollinrake: There have been no changes to the regulatory position of Lysmeral under REACH since the answer given by my Hon. Friend the Member for Bury St Edmunds (Jo Churchill) on 27 April 2022, UIN 157481. That means there are no grounds under REACH for testing for its presence in products. Lysmeral is a prohibited substance for use in cosmetics under annex II of the Cosmetics Regulations 2009 and has been since December 2022. Enforcement authorities, the Office for Product Safety and Standards and Trading Standards, test products where intelligence dictates the need to do so because, for example, it is suspected that a particular product contains a banned or limited substance.

Parental Leave

Angela Rayner: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many people took up unpaid parental leave between 1 January and 31 December 2022.

Kevin Hollinrake: The Department does not hold data on the number of people who have taken unpaid parental leave between January and December 2022. Findings from the Fourth Work-Life Balance Employee Survey (2012) indicate that 11% of employee parents with children aged under 6 took parental leave in the previous 12 months, available here - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/work-life-balance-survey-number-4

Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay

Angela Rayner: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many people received statutory parental bereavement pay between 1 January and 31 December 2022.

Kevin Hollinrake: HM Revenue and Customs receives Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay (SPBP) data through employers’ Pay As You Earn submissions via the Real Time Information system. However, reliable data on the number of recipients of SPBP is not currently available and will be subject to further data quality checks before it can be provided.

Adoption: Pay

Angela Rayner: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many people received statutory adoption pay between 1 January and 31 December 2022.

Kevin Hollinrake: Information provided by employers to HM Revenue and Customs show that there were 4,600 individuals in receipt of Statutory Adoption Pay (SAP) in 2021/22 (the latest year for which full year data is available).

EU Law: Windsor Framework

Jonathan Reynolds: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if she will make an assessment of the compatibility of the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill with the Windsor Framework.

Nigel Huddleston: The Windsor Framework protects the economic rights of the people of Northern Ireland and provides us with the basis to move forward together as one united country. The Retained EU Law Bill does not impact the Framework.Furthermore, the Government has always been clear that we are committed to taking the necessary steps to uphold the UK’s international obligations after the sunset date, including those obligations in the Withdrawal Agreement and now in the Windsor Framework.

Competition and Markets Authority

Mrs Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent assessment he has made of his Department's fulfilment of its responsibility to support the Competition and Markets Authority to deliver the Government's objectives for competition and consumer policy.

Kevin Hollinrake: I and my officials work closely with the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) including a regular dialogue with its new Chair and Chief Executive to ensure the independent regulator has the tools it needs to continue to improve competition in the UK to the benefit of the UK consumer. The Government will introduce the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumer Bill into Parliament this session. The Bill will support our goals of improving competition in the UK and ensuring consumers are protected by enhancing the CMA’s powers.

Housing: Construction

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to the report by Make UK entitled Who will be the builders? Modular’s role in solving the housing labour crisis, published in March 2023, what assessment she has made of the implications for her Department's policies of that report's findings.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: The Government continues to work to encourage the greater use of offsite manufacturing techniques in construction, to deliver both homes and other types of building such as schools and healthcare facilities. Through the Transforming Construction Challenge, the Government directly supported a number of projects that aimed to develop and commercialise new manufacturing techniques for use in delivering housing, including the Advanced Industrialised Methods for the Construction of Homes project.

Health: Working Hours

Kirsten Oswald: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps her Department plans to take to protect night-shift workers from health risks linked to night-shift work in her review of the Future of Work.

Kevin Hollinrake: The Working Time Regulations provide specific protections to night workers. Before someone starts working at night, they must be offered a free health assessment to see if they are fit to work nights before they become a night worker and on a regular basis after that. A record of this must be kept by the employer. Employers must also make sure that night time workers do not work more than an average of 8 hours in a 24-hour period. Employers can make collective or workforce agreements to change or exclude this limit.

Redundancy Pay: Insolvency Service

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 8 March 2023 to Question 153826 on Redundancy Pay: Insolvency Service, of the 5,766 employers subject to formal insolvency proceedings in 2022, in how many cases were the company directors involved subject to (a) personal bankruptcy proceedings and (b) director-disqualification notices.

Kevin Hollinrake: The Insolvency Service does not hold this information.

Hospitality Industry: Government Assistance

Dean Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps she is taking to provide long term (a) financial and (b) other support to the hospitality sector.

Kevin Hollinrake: The Spring Budget 2023 included an increase in Draught Relief from 1 August to 9.2%, freezing the duty charged on a typical pint of beer in the pub and ensuring this will always be lower than in the supermarket.The Autumn Statement 2022 included a package of changes to business rates worth £13.6bn over the next 5 years in lower bills. This is in addition to the Energy Bills Discount Scheme; the increased Employment Allowance of £5,000, which takes the smallest 40% of businesses out of paying any National Insurance at all; and setting the Annual Investment Allowance at £1 million permanently.My department recently published an update on progress towards delivery of the Government’s Hospitality Strategy, with the key ambition of building the sector’s long-term resilience.

Genomics: National Security

Henry Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to the US Department of Commerce adding two subsidiaries of BGI Group to its export blacklist, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of UK legislation for taking similar measures in the genomics sector; and if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of undertaking a review of the adequacy of protections for British technology and goods from companies linked to the Chinese military.

Nigel Huddleston: HM Government is satisfied that the Strategic Export Licensing Criteria announced in the Written Statement of 8 December 2021, HCWS449, provide a thorough risk assessment framework for assessing all export licence applications, including the capacity of items to be misused in ways that could be used to commit human rights abuses.

Audit: Reform

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether she has had recent discussions with the Leader of the House on the indicative timescale for the introduction of the proposed Audit Reform Bill.

Kevin Hollinrake: The Government is committed to legislating to reform audit and corporate governance when Parliamentary time allows. The Secretary of State has frequent discussions with Cabinet colleagues; the Government’s legislative programme will be announced in due course.

Aircraft: Carbon Emissions

Ben Everitt: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps the Government is taking to support the manufacture of new zero emissions whole aircraft in the UK.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: The Government published the Jet Zero Strategy in 2022 setting out an approach to achieving net zero aviation by 2050.As part of the Jet Zero Strategy Government co-invests in ultra-efficient and zero-carbon aircraft technologies through the Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI) Programme. The ATI programme is investing £58m in the development of whole new zero emission aircraft led by Vertical Aerospace, ZeroAvia Cranfield Aerospace Solutions, Rolls-Royce and Hybrid Air Vehicles. Industry has co-invested £57m alongside these grants. As all the aircraft are still in the development phase none have yet entered full scale production.To support further work on zero emission flight the ATI led the £15m FlyZero project. This in-depth research study, which was completed in March 2022, found green liquid hydrogen offers the greatest potential to power future zero-carbon emission aircraft.

Post Office: ICT

Stella Creasy: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether she will take steps to ensure that claimants under the Post Office (a) historical shortfall scheme and (b) suspension remuneration review will receive a similar tax exemption to that available to group litigation order compensation scheme claimants through the Post Office Horizon Compensation and Infected Blood Interim Compensation Payment Schemes (Tax Exemptions and Relief) Regulations 2023.

Kevin Hollinrake: The Historical Shortfall Scheme’s intention is to ensure all victims of the Horizon scandal are returned to the financial position they would have been in had the wrongdoings not occurred.An issue has been identified on the tax treatment of some postmasters with claims for loss of earnings under the HSS, particularly those with larger claims, where postmasters may be pushed into a higher tax bracket due to receiving compensation in a lump sum as opposed to receiving those earnings over several tax years. The Department for Business and Trade wants to see fair compensation for all victims and is working urgently to address this issue with the Post Office, HMT and HMRC.The Department for Business and Trade is aiming to ensure that tax treatment is fair across all schemes, including the Suspension Remuneration Review.

Trade Agreements: Australia

Simon Lightwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, when the Government expects to complete processes and exchange diplomatic notes with Australia so that a commencement date can be set for the UK - Australia Free Trade Agreement.

Nigel Huddleston: Our ground-breaking free trade agreement (FTA) with Australia is our first ‘from scratch’ since we left the EU, and is set to benefit every nation and region of the UK. We are working hard to bring the FTA into force at the earliest opportunity so businesses and consumers can reap the benefits. The Trade (Australia and New Zealand) Act received Royal Assent on 23 March and we are working to lay the remaining statutory instruments required to implement the agreement, and to complete the remaining procedural steps, as soon as possible. We expect to be able to bring the agreement into force this spring.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Israel: Palestinians

Kim Leadbeater: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has had discussions with his Israeli counterpart on the potential effect of that country's proposals to provide administrative powers over the West Bank to its Finance Minister on the status of the West Bank.

David Rutley: The Foreign Secretary has not discussed this issue with his Israeli counterpart, but it has long been the Government's view that Israel's presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territories is governed by the provisions of the Geneva Convention and we repeatedly call on Israel to abide by those obligations. We are still working to understand the full consequence of the changes you refer to, but our current understanding is that the administrative powers will remain within the Ministry of Defense and Bezalel Smotrich's involvement will be in his capacity as a junior Defence Minister.

Shireen Abu Akleh

Kim Leadbeater: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has had discussions with the Israeli Government on a full, impartial investigation into the murder of Shireen Abu Akleh.

David Rutley: The UK Government was deeply saddened by the death of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh last year and the Foreign Secretary once again extends his sympathies to her family. The Foreign Secretary has not personally discussed this matter with the Government of Israel, but officials from British Embassy Tel Aviv made clear the need for a thorough investigation. The UK Government's position is still that there must be a thorough and transparent investigation. The work of journalists across the globe is vital, and they must be protected from harm in the course of their duties.

Israel: Palestinians

Kim Leadbeater: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the implications for his Department's policies of the announcement by the government of Israel that it will legalise nine outposts in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

David Rutley: The UK's position on settlements and outposts is unchanged. They are illegal under international law, present an obstacle to peace and threaten the physical viability of a two-state solution. The UK joined a number of international partners on 14 February to express our dismay at the decision to legalise nine outposts. This decision will only serve to exacerbate tensions and undermine efforts to achieve a negotiated two-state solution. The UK welcomes the recent talks in Aqaba and Sharm El-Sheikh and in particular the commitment by the Israeli government to stop the authorisation of outposts for six months. We will push the Israelis to make that temporary pause permanent.

India: Development Aid

Ben Lake: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how much aid the UK has given India (a) directly and (b) via contributions to multilateral organisations in each of the last five years; and what proportion of that aid was for investment in renewable energy.

Leo Docherty: The UK has given no direct financial aid to the Government of India since 2015. Figures for UK bilateral and imputed share of multilateral Official Development Assistance (ODA) to India are as follows:2017 - £90.1 million bilateral and £159.5 million multilateral2018 - £94.6 million bilateral and £177.5 million multilateral2019 - £107.5 million bilateral and £83.1 million multilateral2020 - £94.8 million bilateral and £69.5 million multilateral2021 - £90.6 million bilateral and estimated £69.5 million multilateralIn addition, £1 billion was invested through British Investment International between 2016-2021. We do not hold data on the proportion of the bilateral or multilateral ODA invested in renewable energy.

Tunisia: Gender Based Violence

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions he has had with his Tunisian counterpart on convicting perpetrators of violence against women.

David Rutley: The UK helps protect women's rights in Tunisia by supporting improved public policies and services for victims and survivors of gender-based violence, in collaboration with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the Tunisian Ministry of Family, Women, Children and the Elderly. We also support gender equality by enhancing the skills and knowledge of women-led civil society organisations, including in marginalised regions. The UK is committed to supporting the rights of women and girls worldwide and in Tunisia.

India: Solar Power

Ben Lake: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his Indian counterpart on the land procurement process being undertaken to develop a solar park in Madhya Pradesh under the Madhya Pradesh Solar Policy; and how much UK aid has been invested in solar projects in that state.

Leo Docherty: India's energy choices are crucial to global climate change outcomes. The UK Government welcomes India's commitment to expanding renewables at an unprecedented speed and its international leadership on initiatives such as the International Solar Alliance. We are supporting India's efforts to achieve its climate goals and Net Zero by 2070, including through a guarantee to the World Bank to provide an additional $1 billion of climate finance and British International Investment Partnerships.The World Bank has an Environmental and Social Framework (ESF) for protecting people and the environment and the Government monitors the Bank's adherence to these standards.

Development Aid: Conflict Prevention and Peace Negotiations

Drew Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make a comparative assessment of the amount spent on (a) peacebuilding and (b) conflict-prevention initiatives compared with other countries in Europe.

Leo Docherty: The UK is committed to conflict prevention and we welcome Independent Commission for Aid Impact's recent recognition of the UK's meaningful contributions to peacebuilding. The UK is one of the biggest supporters of the UN's Peacebuilding Fund, having committed over £175 million since the Fund's inception in 2006. We are among the top 10 donors alongside Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, Norway and Denmark for 2020-24.Following the Integrated Review Refresh, a new Integrated Security Fund will have a budget of almost £1 billion.There are no plans to assess the UK's overall spend on peacebuilding and conflict prevention against other European countries.

Republika Srpska: Diplomatic Relations

Alicia Kearns: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the implications for his Department's policies of reports that Republika Srpska will end diplomatic relations with the US and UK.

Leo Docherty: On 17 March and on the back of false claims, President of the Republika Srpska (RS) entity in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), Dodik, announced a non-legally binding RS government decision to prevent all contact with the British and US Embassies. He has also pushed retrograde legislative moves in the RS. His authoritarian actions move BiH away from its Euro-Atlantic path. Together with our allies, we continue to support alternative voices and to strengthen BiH's democracy.

Haiti: Food Supply

Fabian Hamilton: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the publication of the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis which showed an increase in the number of acutely hungry people in Haiti, what discussions he has had with the World Food Programme on the situation in Haiti since the publication of that analysis.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: Food security is a key priority for the UK Government as set out in the refresh of the Integrated Review (IR) published in March 2023. There is a rising global food security crisis in 2023 with 46 million people across 36 countries estimated to be living in famine or one step away from it. We are committed to working with our international partners to respond to this situation and engage regularly with the World Food Programme (WFP) as part of this. We are monitoring the situation in Haiti closely including through the British Embassy in Port-au-Prince.

Agnes Wanjiru

Kenny MacAskill: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assurances he gave his Kenyan counterpart on 15 March 2023 regarding a swift resolution of the Agnes Wanjiru murder investigation.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: The Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs discussed the Agnes Wanjiru investigation with his counterpart on 15 March. His Majesty's Government remains committed to supporting this investigation and ensuring that the family of Agnes Wanjiru receives justice. The Defence Serious Crime Command, British High Commission Nairobi, Ministry of Defence and National Crime Agency have been working with the Kenyan authorities to provide UK assistance to the Kenyan investigation.

Myanmar: Ethnic Groups

Sir Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department is taking steps to ensure that education projects in Myanmar funded by the British taxpayer do not discriminate against ethnic minority languages.

Leo Docherty: The UK, together with the US, Australia and Finland, is providing funding to the Myanmar Education Consortium (MEC). MEC's principle focus is providing education for ethnic communities, often living in areas outside the military regime's control. MEC is supporting over 200,000 children in hard-to-reach areas and is also promoting ethnic languages so children can learn in their mother tongue as well as gender equality, disability and social inclusion.

Taiwan: Honduras

Fabian Hamilton: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has had recent discussions with his Honduran counterpart on Taiwanese independence.

David Rutley: Honduran recognition policy is a matter for the Honduran Government. The UK's long-standing position remains that the Taiwan issue should be settled peacefully by people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait through dialogue, and not through any unilateral attempts to change the status quo.

El Salvador: Abortion

Fabian Hamilton: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions he has had with his counterpart in El Salvador regarding the decriminalisation of abortion in that country.

David Rutley: As outlined in the recently released Women and Girls Strategy, the UK supports women's comprehensive sexual and reproductive health and rights globally, including access to safe abortion. While the Secretary of State has had no recent discussions with his counterpart in El Salvador regarding the decriminalisation of abortion in that country, in multilateral settings we continue to recommend that El Salvador review laws criminalising the use of abortion, ensure access to sexual and reproductive health services and support for all women and girls, and guarantee women are not criminally prosecuted for suffering a miscarriage.

Colombia: Armed Conflict

Fabian Hamilton: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking to support the Colombian Government with tackling (a) the Oliver Sinisterra Front, (b) the Urias Rondon Mobile Column and (c) other armed groups operating in southwestern Colombia.

David Rutley: I [Minister Rutley] met with the Colombian Foreign Minister at the UN Security Council on 11 January to discuss security issues and tackling the root causes of violence in Colombia. The UK's Conflict, Stability, and Security Fund (CSSF) programme, which has provided £74 million in support of Peace Agreement implementation, security, and stability in Colombia since 2015, will continue to support programmes that help strengthen the security and participation of communities in conflict-affected areas. Through our role as pen-holder at the UN Security Council, the UK will also continue to support the Government of Colombia on security issues, including tackling the activities of illegal armed groups.

Department for Energy Security and Net Zero

UK Emissions Trading Scheme

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, pursuant to the Answer of 21 March 2023 to Question 163786 on UK Emissions Trading Scheme, what his Department’s timescale is for publishing its response to the consultation on technical short term improvements to the free allocation policy through the UK Emissions Trading Scheme.

Graham Stuart: As part of the ongoing review into the UK's approach to free allocation policy, the UK ETS Authority published a consultation last year. This covered a number of measures, including technical short-term improvements to the policy. The UK ETS Authority will publish a response in due course.

Renewable Energy

Fleur Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of the report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change entitled Sixth Assessment Report, published on 20 March 2023; and whether his Department plans to take further steps to (a) reduce fossil fuel use in the energy system and (b) transition to a renewable energy system.

Graham Stuart: The Government is committed to reaching net zero by 2050, in line with advice from the UK’s independent Climate Change Committee, and consistent with findings from the IPCC’s Synthesis Report[1]. The Government outlined its plans to reach net zero and nearer term targets in the Net Zero Strategy, published October 2021, and the British Energy Security Strategy, published April 2022. The Government is committed to decarbonising the UK’s electricity system by 2035, subject to security of supply. While oil and gas remain an essential resource, around 40% of UK electricity now comes from renewable generation, up from 7% in 2010. [1] https://report.ipcc.ch/ar6syr/pdf/IPCC_AR6_SYR_SPM.pdf

Energy Charter Treaty

Beth Winter: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, when his Department plans to make a decision on the modernisation of the Energy Charter Treaty.

Beth Winter: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment his Department has made of the views of stakeholders in (a) business, (b) civil society and (c) Parliament on the UK's membership of the Energy Charter Treaty.

Beth Winter: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, pursuant to the contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero to the Westminster Hall debate on Energy Charter Treaty on 21 March 2023, Official Report, columns 52WH to 53WH, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of ending the UK's membership of the Energy Charter Treaty.

Graham Stuart: The UK has been a strong advocate for modernising the Energy Charter Treaty, recognising the urgent need to align it with modern energy priorities, international treaty practice and commitments on climate change. Since the decision to adopt the modernised Treaty has been postponed, the Government has been assessing the situation in order to respond appropriately, considering the views of stakeholders in business, civil society and Parliament. The Government will keep the House informed of developments as soon as it is able to do so.

Heating: Fossil Fuels

Alec Shelbrooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, with reference to the consultation entitled Phasing out the installation of fossil fuel heating in homes off the gas grid, published on 19 October 2021, when he plans to publish his Department's response to that consultation.

Graham Stuart: The Government consulted on phasing out the installation of heating systems using high carbon fossil fuels in homes, businesses and public buildings in England off the gas grid during the 2020s. The Government will respond to these consultations in due course.

Energy: Public Houses

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether he has had discussions with energy suppliers on the financial impact of fixed-term energy contracts on public houses.

Amanda Solloway: The Government continues to provide support to businesses through the Energy Bill Discount Scheme until March 2024. Fixed Term energy contracts are an important mechanism for businesses and energy suppliers to plan their energy related costs. Ministers from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and the Department for Business and Trade met recently with non-domestic suppliers and industry representatives to discuss what more could be done to support customers who may have fixed in at higher prices in Autumn 2022. The Government will continue to work with Ofgem on this matter following the results of their ongoing non-domestic market review.

Electricity: Standing Charges

Peter Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of geographical variations in electricity standing charges.

Amanda Solloway: The standing charge includes some electricity distribution costs, which vary regionally to reflect the different costs of maintaining and upgrading the distribution network in different regions. Ofgem, as the independent energy regulator overseeing network charges, has previously reviewed regional differences in network charges. Its report found that there are advantages in charges that broadly reflect the costs that different users place on the system. In particular, this cost-reflective approach to network charging supports an efficient system where overall network costs are minimised for consumers across Great Britain.

Aquind: Electricity Interconnectors

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if he has made an assessment of the potential national security risks of the Aquind Interconnector Project.

Graham Stuart: National Security is a key priority for this Government. The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero ensures protection of infrastructure and critical services through a broad range of mitigations, including legislative and regulatory powers. Foreign involvement in critical national infrastructure undergoes the highest levels of scrutiny.

Aquind: Electricity Interconnectors

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether his Department has made an assessment of potential environmental risks associated with the Aquind Interconnector Project.

Graham Stuart: In taking the decision on any application for development consent for a nationally significant energy infrastructure project, the Secretary of State will consider all relevant matters, including environmental impacts. Given the Secretary of State’s quasi-judicial role in determining this planning application, it would not be appropriate to comment on any specific matters regarding the application.

Aquind: Electricity Interconnectors

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, by which date he is required to decide on the Aquind Interconnector Project.

Graham Stuart: The proposed AQUIND Interconnector Project is being redetermined by the Secretary of State. There is no statutory deadline for the redetermination of this application.

Members: Correspondence

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, when he plans to respond to the correspondence of 25 January 2023 from the hon. Member for Portsmouth South on the Aquind Interconnector Project.

Graham Stuart: The Department has been unable to confirm receipt of the hon. Member’s correspondence of 25 January on the Aquind Interconnector Project. Please resubmit the correspondence to the Department and a response will be expedited for the Hon. Member.

Drax Group

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, with reference to the BBC Panorama programme entitled The Green Energy Scandal Exposed, whether Ofgem is (a) investigating or (b) auditing Drax Group PLC for that company's compliance with sustainability regulations.

Graham Stuart: Ofgem undertakes regular audits of Drax’s adherence to their obligations under the Renewables Obligation scheme. As part of ongoing scheme compliance monitoring, an additional assurance audit is underway.

Ofgem

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, when his Department last provided a policy and position paper to Ofgem; and when his Department plans next to provide a policy and position paper to Ofgem.

Amanda Solloway: The power to designate a Strategy and Policy Statement (SPS) for energy policy, that Ofgem must have regard to, was enacted by the Energy Act 2013. The Government has consulted Scottish and Welsh Ministers on a draft SPS and taken their comments into account. The Government intends to publicly consult on an updated draft soon.

Energy Bills Rebate

Jeff Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if he will make an estimate of the number of Energy Bill Support Scheme prepayment meter vouchers claimed in (a) March 2023 and (b) January 2023.

Amanda Solloway: The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) collects information about the payments made under the Energy Bills Support Scheme GB (EBSS GB) in England, Wales and Scotland. Transparency data on Energy Bills Support Scheme GB payments made by electricity suppliers to customers is reported monthly and can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/energy-bills-support-scheme-payments-made-by-electricity-suppliers-to-customers.In January 2023, 1,953,160 prepayment vouchers were delivered across England, Scotland and Wales. Reporting for the four months of the scheme up to 31 January 2023 shows that 7,916,490 vouchers were issued to customers using prepayment meters, of which 5,992,390 (76%) had been redeemed. Data for March 2023 will be published via the link above in April.

Energy Bills Rebate

Jeff Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps his Department is taking to improve the uptake of Energy Bill Support Scheme vouchers.

Amanda Solloway: The Department has been engaging with stakeholders and suppliers to increase the uptake of traditional prepayment vouchers in GB and continues to work with the sector, as well as consumer groups, charities and local leaders to reach eligible customers with unused vouchers that have not yet benefitted from this support. This includes ongoing government information campaigns to raise awareness via roaming advert vans, community radio, social media and national magazine titles. The latest figures published in March indicate that in the first five months of the scheme 78% of issued vouchers were redeemed.

Energy Bills Rebate

Jeff Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what recent discussions he has had with energy companies on the uptake of Energy Bill Support Scheme vouchers.

Amanda Solloway: In December, the Secretary of State wrote to all relevant electricity suppliers and Ministers have chaired two roundtables with CEOs of suppliers providing traditional prepayment meters on 7 December and 25 January. I intend to host a further roundtable with these suppliers. The Department continues to work with stakeholders to ensure every effort is made to reach all eligible households.The latest figures published in March indicate that in the first five months of the scheme, 78% of issued vouchers were redeemed.

Energy Bills Rebate: Manchester Withington

Jeff Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if he will make an estimate of the value of unclaimed Energy Bill Support Scheme prepayment meter vouchers in Manchester Withington constituency.

Amanda Solloway: Reporting to the three months to December 31st 2022 shows an estimated 8,170 Energy Bills Support Scheme traditional prepayment meter vouchers were issued to households in Manchester Withington, with 5,930 (73%) of these redeemed. October and November vouchers were valued at £66 and the December voucher at £67 meaning the 2,240 unredeemed vouchers have a value of approximately £150,000. Transparency data on Energy Bills Support Scheme GB payments made by electricity suppliers to customers is reported monthly and can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/energy-bills-support-scheme-payments-made-by-electricity-suppliers-to-customers.

Warm Home Discount Scheme

Judith Cummins: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of extending eligibility for the Warm Home Discount Scheme to people on non-means tested disability benefits.

Amanda Solloway: In reforming the scheme, the Government assessed the merits of including households on non-means tested disability benefits and provided details of this assessment in the consultation and impact assessment. Its analysis, based on the English Housing Survey, was that the fuel poverty rates for DLA and PIP recipients in receipt of one of the qualifying means-tested benefits was 41%, compared to 14% for DLA and PIP recipients who are not eligible.

Energy: Meters

Chloe Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment he has made of the number of domestic properties in Norwich that are unable to access smart energy metering due to poor quality mobile signal as of March 2023; and what plans he has to help ensure those residents have access to operational smart meters in the future.

Amanda Solloway: The Government's aim is that as many households and small businesses as possible should benefit from smart metering. The Government does not hold information on network coverage at a constituency level. However, the Data Communications Company (DCC), which operates the national communications infrastructure for smart metering, is obligated under its licence to provide coverage to at least 99.25% of premises across Great Britain and is also required by license conditions to seek to provide coverage above this level where practicable and cost proportionate. Ofgem is responsible for regulating the DCC against its obligations.

Warm Home Discount Scheme

Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of removing from the criteria for the Warm Homes Discount the requirement for the claimant’s property to have a high energy cost score based on its characteristics.

Amanda Solloway: The Government has reformed the Warm Home Discount scheme in England and Wales from 2022/23 to focus the support to households at greater risk of fuel poverty and to provide most rebates automatically. Fuel poverty is a combination of low incomes and high energy costs, so the scheme is targeted at those on means-tested benefits whose homes we have estimated to be relatively expensive to heat. Removing the high energy cost eligibility criteria would decrease the proportion of recipients in fuel poverty and increase the cost of the scheme significantly.

Energy Bills Discount Scheme: District Heating

Marsha De Cordova: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, when he plans to provide heat network customers with a separate Energy Bills Discount Scheme rate of relief.

Amanda Solloway: The new Energy Bill Discount Scheme will continue to provide eligible UK businesses and other non-domestic energy users, including heat networks, with a discount on high energy bills from 1 April 2023 until 31 March 2024. Domestic customers on heat networks will receive a higher level of support than the baseline to ensure that they do not face higher energy bills than domestic energy consumers receiving support through the Energy Price Guarantee. Heat network operators will need to apply for this support via a digital portal that will be made available on GOV.UK. This will ensure that customers on heat networks do not face disproportionately higher bills when compared to customers in equivalent households with domestic electricity supplies.

Power Stations: Carbon Capture and Storage

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether it is his policy to increase the carbon capture power station capacity to 9GW by 2030.

Graham Stuart: Power CCUS can provide flexible, low-carbon capacity to complement high levels of renewables. These characteristics mean the continued rollout of power CCUS is a key part of the Government’s strategy for the secure decarbonisation of the electricity system by 2035. The exact mix of generation technologies in the future will depend on the market, but the Government will work to ensure we deploy the levels of power CCUS capacity needed to reach our decarbonisation targets.

Carbon Capture and Storage and Hydrogen

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether he has a timeline for the deployment of (a) carbon capture and storage and (b) hydrogen infrastructure until 2030.

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, in how many industrial clusters will (a) carbon capture and storage infrastructure and (b) hydrogen infrastructure be deployed by 2030.

Graham Stuart: The Government aims to establish CCUS in at least two industrial clusters by the mid-2020s (with hydrogen production capacity in both) and a further two by 2030 (which may include hydrogen production, subject to which clusters are selected), subject to value for money and affordability considerations. The Government has also doubled its ambition to up to 10GW of low carbon hydrogen production capacity by 2030, subject to affordability and value for money. The UK Hydrogen Strategy, published in August 2021, outlines a comprehensive roadmap for the development of the wider hydrogen economy over the 2020s to deliver the Government’s 2030 ambition.

Electricity: Prices

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether he plans to have discussions with Ofgem on improving transparency in Economy 7 tariffs under the Price Cap by requiring suppliers to publish Economy 7 tariff price schedules.

Amanda Solloway: A decision on whether to require suppliers to publish Economy 7 tariff price schedules is a matter for the independent regulator Ofgem. Ofgem’s Licence Conditions require suppliers to notify customers of the domestic supply contract terms, including requiring suppliers to take all reasonable steps to inform customers of the principal terms of their supply contracts, and sending a notice if prices increase or the terms of the contract vary in a way that disadvantages the customer.

Environment Protection: Employment

Yasmin Qureshi: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what recent estimate he has made of the number of green jobs in (a) the North West, (b) the Borough of Bolton and (c) Bolton South East constituency.

Graham Stuart: The Department does not collect data with the level of granularity required to discuss green employment figures for the North West, the Borough of Bolton and Bolton South East. ONS figures show there were over 400,000 jobs in low carbon businesses and their supply chains across the country in 2020. The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero is working with the Green Jobs Delivery Group, exploring how government and businesses can support local areas to deliver a successful transition. For example, ensuring green skills are considered through Local Skills Improvement Plans and setting out skills needs and priority changes required in an area.

Coal: Heating

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if he will take steps to launch a scheme to provide funding for people who transfer from coal to gas central heating systems.

Graham Stuart: The Government ‘Help to Heat’ schemes ensure homes will be warmer and cheaper to heat. The Government will deliver upgrades to over half a million homes in the coming years through our Social Housing Decarbonisation and Home Upgrade Grant Schemes and Energy Company Obligation Scheme. The £450 million Boiler Upgrade Scheme offers £5,000 and £6,000 grants for Air and Ground Source Heat Pumps, respectively. The Government has also launched a home retrofit tool on GOV.UK, ‘Find ways to save energy in your home’. Users can get tailored recommendations for home improvements that could make their property cheaper to heat and keep warm.

Ministry of Defence

Veterans: Social Services

Rachel Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when his Department plans to publish the terms of reference for the review of veteran welfare services.

Rachel Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, which government services are in the scope of his Department’s review of veteran welfare services.

Rachel Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what resources his Department has allocated to undertake the review of veteran welfare services.

Dr Andrew Murrison: The independent review of veterans' welfare support services, announced by the Office for Veterans’ Affairs (OVA) and the Ministry of Defence (MOD) on 2 March 2023, will encompass the MOD’s Veterans’ Welfare Services, as well as the Northern Ireland Veterans Support Office, and the Government's role in the Veterans’ Gateway, and how they fit into wider Government support to veterans. It will also align with the Reviews of the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme and Veterans Advisory and Pensions Committees that are currently underway. The review will build on the positive work already being undertaken across Government under the Strategy for our Veterans, including the MOD’s £40M digitalisation project, which will significantly improve customer service and the process for managing claims​ through MOD​. The review will be conducted by an independent Senior Civil Servant (SCS), who will be supported by a joint secretariat from the MOD and Cabinet Office. Terms of reference for the review, which is expected to last for approximately three months, will be published shortly. A​​​​ copy ​of the review ​​and the Government's response ​will be placed in the Library of the House.

Type 23 Frigates: Decommissioning

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the report entitled Defence in a Competitive Age, published by his Department on 22 March 2021, CP 411, whether the two Type 23 frigates planned to be retired have left service.

Alex Chalk: One of the Type 23 frigates mentioned in the report 'Defence in a Competitive Age' was decommissioned in June 2021 and the other will leave service shortly.

BAE 146 Aircraft: Decommissioning

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the report entitled Defence in a Competitive Age, published by his Department on 22 March 2021, CP 411, whether his Department has retired the RAF’s BAe146.

Alex Chalk: Yes. BAe146 was withdrawn from RAF service in spring 2022, and all airframes were subsequently disposed of to civil organisations.

France: Minesweepers

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the (a) initial operating capability and (b) full operating capability dates for the mine hunting capability being co-developed with France are.

Alex Chalk: The Anglo-French programme, Maritime Mine Counter Measures is a sub-system of the Mine Hunting Capability Programme and therefore does not have an Initial Operating Capability or Full Operating Capability in and of itself as it forms part of the broader programme capability milestones.

Typhoon Aircraft

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the report entitled Defence in a Competitive Age, published by his Department on 22 March 2021, CP 411, how many Tranche 1 Typhoons will be retired by 2025.

Alex Chalk: I refer the right hon. Member to the answer I gave to him on 9 February 2023 to Question 140022.Typhoon Aircraft (docx, 22.8KB)

Armed Forces: Weapons

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much of the £2bn of funding for Armed Forces stockpiles allocated over the next two years has been allocated to the (a) Army, (b) Royal Navy and (c) RAF.

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what capabilities the £2bn of funding for Armed Forces stockpiles allocated over the next two years will be spent on.

Alex Chalk: The Department is currently working through the outcome of the Spring Budget on 15 March and it is too early to provide an indication of how the funding for future years will be allocated. Work is currently underway to determine a package of deliverable investment choices to maximise the benefit of this funding towards replenishing and securing our military stockpiles.

Armed Forces: Complaints

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many service complaints submitted by (a) service and (b) former service personnel were ruled out of time each in year since 2015.

Dr Andrew Murrison: The number of service complaints, submitted by Service and former Service personnel, which were ruled out of time in each complete year since 2015: Year20152016201720182019202020212022Service Person2040405040303050Former Service Person-10202020101010Total3050607070405070 Notes/caveats:• Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10 to limit disclosure and ensure confidentiality; numbers ending in "5" have been rounded to the nearest multiple of 20 to prevent systematic bias.• Totals and sub-totals have been rounded separately and may not equal the sum of their parts.• “-” denotes zero or rounded to zero.

Armed Forces: Complaints

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many service complaints submitted by (a) serving and (b) former service personnel and received by a specified officer three months after the event have been ruled in time in each year since 2015.

Dr Andrew Murrison: The Ministry of Defence’s guidance for Service and civilian personnel on the application of policy for Service Complaints can be found in Joint Service Publication (JSP) 831: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/jsp-831-redress-of-individual-grievances-service-complaints   A Service Complaint cannot be ruled admissible after three months from the date of the issue being complained about, barring certain exceptions. The circumstances under which complaints can be ruled admissible after three months are set out in JSP 831. The reasons for the admissibility of a complaint are not recorded centrally and could only be determined by examining each case file. The exercise required to review the case file for each Service Complaint within scope would incur disproportionate cost.

Global Combat Air Programme: Finance

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much has been invested into the Global Combat Air Programme by (a) the UK, (b) Italy and (c) Japan.

Alex Chalk: The Global Combat Air Programme is the trilateral programme launched with Italy and Japan in December 2022 to develop the core aircraft that, for the UK, will be at the heart of the Future Combat Air System (FCAS). The March 2021 Defence Command Paper reaffirmed that that we will invest more than £2 billion in FCAS out to 2025, and we have spent over £1.4 billion so far. This is part of a budget of over £10 billion over the next 10 years. The amount that we ultimately invest will be determined by future decision points. The amount that our international partners are investing is for them to comment on. Nevertheless, all three countries are making significant investments in our combat air sectors to pursue shared goals for a combat air programme in a spirit of equal partnership: delivering vital military capability, supporting national sovereignty and freedom of action/modification, strengthening and sustaining our combat air sectors and supporting prosperity. We will determine the cost-sharing arrangements ahead of the next phase, based on joint assessment of costs and national budgets.

Ajax Vehicles: Repairs and Maintenance

David Warburton: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the ongoing upgrades to Ajax armoured vehicles.

Alex Chalk: User Validation Trials successfully confirmed that the modifications to Ajax vehicles ensure crew exposure to noise and vibration levels remain within legislative requirements. The modifications are now being applied to training vehicles already delivered to the Army and will be applied to all future vehicle deliveries.

RFA Sir Galahad

Jessica Morden: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will launch a formal inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the 1982 attack on the RFA Sir Galahad.

Dr Andrew Murrison: A Board of Inquiry was convened on 12 July 1982 to investigate the loss of RFA Sir Galahad.The redacted copy of this report is held at this link: https://falklandstimeline.files.wordpress.com/2022/06/board-of-inquiry-report-into-the-loss-of-rfa-sir-tristram-and-rfa-sir-galahad-june-8-1982.pdf.

Armed Forces: Housing

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of housing for armed forces personnel.

Alex Chalk: The Ministry of Defence (MOD) fully recognises that the provision of safe, good quality and well-maintained accommodation is essential to operational output, and providing such accommodation is one of the MOD’s top priorities. In the last seven years, MOD has invested more than £936 million in Service Family Accommodation (SFA) improvements. Currently, just under 97% of MOD SFA meet or exceed the Government’s Decent Homes Standard. Only these properties are allocated to Service families.

Ajax Lessons Learned Review

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, who in his Department has had access to the draft Sheldon report on the Ajax lessons learned review.

Alex Chalk: Clive Sheldon KC shared his initial draft report with the Second Permanent Secretary, as part of his most recent progress update, and with those officials involved in or supporting the representations process, which includes fact-checking and suggesting refinements to the recommendations as well as the Maxwellisation exercise. As is usual practice, Mr Sheldon will decide which comments to accept.

Artillery: Procurement

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of the (a) procurement and (b) whole life cost of the mobile fires platform.

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much funding has been allocated to the mobile fires platform.

Alex Chalk: The Mobile Fires Platform (MFP) project is still in the Concept Phase. It would therefore be inappropriate to confirm the full funding provision currently allocated to MFP, or to provide an estimate of the procurement and whole life costs.

Challenger Tanks

Dave Doogan: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether it remains his policy to reduce the total number of Challenger 2 tanks held by the British Army.

Alex Chalk: As announced under Future Soldier, Challenger 3 will replace Challenger 2 to deliver the Army’s new Main Battle Tank capability with enhanced lethality, survivability, and mobility, able to meet current and emerging threats. The number of Challenger 3 remains under review to ensure the Army’s Main Battle Tank fleet is sufficient to meet Defence’s needs.

Artillery

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what capabilities will be provided by the mobile fire platform.

Alex Chalk: The Mobile Fires Platform (MFP) will deliver the UK’s next generation artillery system enabling a game changing uplift to Indirect Fire capability. It will be more responsive and more lethal at much greater range than the current AS90 systems, whilst providing better protection and survivability for crew and weapon. MFP will be a 155mm 52 calibre, all weather, automated self-propelled gun able to operate day and night.

Artillery: Contracts

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what contracts have been awarded by his Department as part of the Mobile Fires Platform as of 24 March 2023.

Alex Chalk: The following contracts have been awarded in support of the concept phase for the Mobile Fires Platform: ContractOutputCommerce DecisionMarket engagement, initial strategic advice and business case supportDSTLOperational analysisEquinoxTraining analysisPA ConsultingStrategic advice and business case supportQinetiQFeasibility studies and ammunition qualification support

Japan: Foreign Relations

David Warburton: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to strengthen defence relationships with Japan.

James Heappey: I refer the hon.Member to the answer I gave on 15 March to the hon. Member for Crewe and Nantwwich (Dr Kieran Mullan) to Question 159086.Japan: Foreign Relations (docx, 22.8KB)

Mull of Kintyre Crash Review

Gareth Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the The Mull of Kintyre Review, HC 1348, published July 2011, what assessment he has made of the implications of that review on similar cases that occurred between 1983 and 2011.

Dr Andrew Murrison: The Mull of Kintyre review was instrumental in the replacement of Boards of Inquiry with Service Inquiries. As the hon. Member will be aware, a Service Inquiry is an inquiry held under statute and is not permitted to apportion blame or find negligence, but rather seeks to identify where there are lessons to help prevent recurrence.It is not possible to overturn aspects of Boards of Inquiry held in the past without full reinvestigation of the original incident, and it would not be benificial to re-open any such inquiries, where it is deemed there are no lessons to be identified for the Service, such as where aircraft are no longer in service for example.

Ammunition: Depleted Uranium

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the UN General Assembly Resolution A/RES/77/49 adopted by the General Assembly on 7 December 2022, if he has responded to the invitation to Member States in the Resolution to communicate to the Secretary-General the UK’s views on the effects of the use of armaments and ammunitions containing depleted uranium; and if he will make a statement.

James Heappey: The UK, jointly with France and the United States, provided an Explanation of Vote in response to UN General Assembly Resolution A/RES/77/49 regarding our position on the effects of the use of depleted uranium munitions. The UK notes that inquiries by the World Health Organization, the United Nations Environmental Program, the International Atomic Energy Agency and others has documented no long-term environmental or health effects attributable to the use of these munitions.

Ukraine: Ammunition

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Answer of 20 March 2023 to Question HL6144 on Ukraine: Ammunition and to UN General Assembly Resolution A/RES/77/49 adopted by the General Assembly on 7 December 2022, when he last made an assessment of the potential hazards to human beings and the environment from the contamination of territories with depleted uranium residues; and if he will make a statement.

James Heappey: The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has assessed the potential hazards to human beings and the environment following the use of depleted uranium munitions on the battlefield through the monitoring of UK military veterans and environmental surveys. The results of these indicate that the hazards to people and the environment are low, which is consistent with the findings of independent studies by the Royal Society, United Nations Environment Programme, and the European Commission.The monitoring of UK veterans was based on the advice of the Depleted Uranium Oversight Board (DUOB), which concluded its work in 2007. The DUOB's final report can be found here:https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/+/http:/www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/AboutDefence/CorporatePublications/HealthandSafetyPublications/Uranium/FinalReportOfTheDepletedUraniumOversightBoard.htm.MOD remains open to significant new findings in this area.

Ukraine: Ammunition

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Answer of 20 March 2023 to Question HL6144 on Ukraine: Ammunition and to UN General Assembly Resolution A/RES/77/49 adopted by the General Assembly on 7 December 2022, if prior to making the decision to provide Ukraine with ammunition, including armour piercing rounds which contain depleted uranium, he held discussions with relevant international organisations about the finding in the Resolution that the magnitude of the potential long-term effects on human beings and the environment of the use of armaments and ammunitions containing depleted uranium is not yet fully understood.

James Heappey: No. Given the lack of tangible evidence to the contrary, we do not recognise the presupposed potential risk to health and the environment and therefore do not support UN resolutions that presuppose depleted uranium is harmful.The UK notes that environmental and long-term health effects of the use of depleted uranium munitions have been thoroughly investigated by the World Health Organization, the United Nations Environmental Program, the International Atomic Energy Agency, NATO, the Centres for Disease Control, the European Commission, and others, none of which has documented long-term environmental or health effects attributable to use of these munitions.

Afghanistan: Refugees

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 27 March 2023 to Question 169189 on Afghanistan: Refugees, if he will publish the data for (a) December 2022, (b) January 2023, (c) February 2023 and d) March 2023.

James Heappey: Since December 2022, as and when relocation to the UK has become possible for individuals or family groups, we have made use of commercial flights, rather than RAF or charter flights, to bring individuals to the UK.A month-by-month breakdown of RAF Voyager flights from Pakistan dating back to December 2022 is captured in the table below:MonthTotal flights departed Pakistan organised by MODDec-220Jan-230Feb-230March-230

Ukraine: White Phosphorus

Kenny MacAskill: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department has delivered white phosphorus munitions to Ukraine.

James Heappey: The UK has not delivered munitions containing white phosphorus to Ukraine.

Ukraine: Cluster Munitions

Kenny MacAskill: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department has delivered cluster munitions to Ukraine.

James Heappey: The UK has not delivered cluster munitions to Ukraine. As a State Party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions, the United Kingdom is prohibited from transferring cluster munitions.

Refugees: Afghanistan

Jessica Morden: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of extending eligibility for the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy to Afghan (a) special forces personnel and (b) fighter pilots trained by UK Armed Forces who face risks of reprisal in Afghanistan.

James Heappey: There are no plans to widen the ARAP criteria, which is more generous than previous Afghan relocation schemes. Furthermore, the provisions requested by the hon. Member in her question are already catered for by the ARAP scheme under Category 4. This category provides for eligibility to be granted on a case-by-case basis to Afghan nationals who worked in Afghanistan alongside a UK Government Department, or in partnership with or closely supporting and assisting that Department; alongside consideration, amongst other criteria, of the contribution an individual made to UK objectives and the threat they are now under.The full criteria are publicly available at:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/afghan-relocations-and-assistance-policy/afghan-relocations-and-assistance-policy-information-and-guidance

Ukraine: Depleted Uranium

Kenny MacAskill: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether Russian forces have used depleted uranium munitions in Ukraine.

James Heappey: The Ministry of Defence is unaware of any credible open-source reports of Russia using depleted uranium in Ukraine.

Ukraine: Depleted Uranium

Kenny MacAskill: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department has delivered depleted uranium tank shells to Ukraine.

James Heappey: Alongside our granting of a squadron of Challenger 2 main battle tanks to Ukraine, we are providing ammunition including armour piercing rounds which contain depleted uranium. Such rounds are highly effective in defeating modern tanks and armoured vehicles.The environmental and long-term health effects of the use of depleted uranium munitions have been thoroughly investigated by the World Health Organization, the United Nations Environmental Program, the International Atomic Energy Agency, NATO, the Centres for Disease Control, the European Commission, and others, none of which has documented long-term environmental or health effects attributable to use of these munitions.

Department for Science, Innovation and Technology

Technology: Finance

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to the Answer given on 10 March 2023 to Question 158906, on Technology: Finance, on what evidential basis he has estimated that the technology missions will attract £250 million of private investment.

George Freeman: The technology missions are based on the lessons learned from the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF) which was successful in leveraging co-investment from the private sector.

BGI Group

Henry Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to the US Department of Commerce adding BGI Tech Solutions (Hong Kong) to its export blacklist, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of this company being awarded contracts by UK universities on national security; and whether her Department has provided guidance to universities with research partnerships with organisations deemed by the UK's allies to pose a significant threat to (a) national security and (b) human rights.

George Freeman: The Government is committed to supporting UK businesses and academia to engage with any and all international collaborations that includes BGI in a way that reflects the UK’s values and takes account of national security concerns. We proactively engage with business and academia to make them aware of national security risks, including through the RCAT programme which supports universities with risk assessment. The Government supports the academic sector to make informed decisions on international research collaboration through the Trusted Research campaign and supported Universities UK to develop guidelines, published in October 2020, to help universities tackle security risks related to international collaboration. As part of the new UK Biological Security Strategy, which is due for publication in the coming months, the Government is currently undertaking a full programme of work to assess how we can minimise the risks from biological data to protect our burgeoning bioeconomy, shape global norms and standards, without stifling innovation, and build confidence in sharing personal data to improve health outcomes in the UK and across the world.

BGI Group

Henry Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to the oral contribution of the Minister of State on BGI Group in the debate on Genomics and National Security on 8 March 2023, Official Report, column 120WH, whether he plans to provide guidance to (a) business and (b) universities that have formed research partnerships with BGI Group on the potential risks of working with that company.

George Freeman: The Government is committed to supporting UK businesses and academia to engage with any and all international collaborations that includes BGI in a way that reflects the UK’s values and takes account of national security concerns. We proactively engage with business and academia to make them aware of national security risks, including through the RCAT programme which supports universities with risk assessment. The Government supports the academic sector to make informed decisions on international research collaboration through the Trusted Research campaign and supported Universities UK to develop guidelines, published in October 2020, to help universities tackle security risks related to international collaboration. As part of the new UK Biological Security Strategy, which is due for publication in the coming months, the government is currently undertaking a full programme of work to assess how we can minimise the risks from biological data to protect our burgeoning bioeconomy, shape global norms and standards, without stifling innovation, and build confidence in sharing personal data to improve health outcomes in the UK and across the world.

Laboratories

Holly Mumby-Croft: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department is taking to help increase the availability of affordable laboratory space.

George Freeman: The Government has announced nearly £500 million to provide world-class research and innovation infrastructure to help unlock UK researchers’ full potential, as part of our £14.9 billion investment in research & development this financial year. As part of our work to map the UK’s innovation clusters, we are also looking to identify constraints on their future growth. This investment and analysis demonstrates the Government’s commitment to ensuring that the UK remains an attractive place for researchers, innovators and entrepreneurs to live, work and innovate.

Horizon Europe

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to the UK International Technology Strategy published on Published 22 March 2023, for what reasons that document does not reference (a) association with Horizon Europe and (b) alternatives to Horizon Europe; and whether she plans to take steps to re-join the Horizon Programme.

George Freeman: The International Technology Strategy sets out the UK’s approach for technology leadership on the global stage through strong partnerships. It defines the principles - open, responsible, secure, and resilient - that will guide our international engagement. Both the UK and the EU have been clear that we continue to be ready to work swiftly and constructively together on a range of issues including UK association and we are now taking forward discussions on UK association.

Science: Regional Planning and Development

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, how much science funding was spent on projects located outside of the South East in this financial year; and whether her Department will take steps to increase the proportion of science funding spent outside the South East over the next five years.

George Freeman: The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is working with Government departments to collect and publish data on publicly funded R&D expenditure by region. Data for this financial year is not currently available, and there will be a time lag before it can be published. Data for 2020-21 is scheduled to be published in April 2023. The Government has pledged to increase domestic public investment in R&D outside the Greater South East by at least 40% by 2030, and by at least a third by 2024-5.

Broadband: Leeds North West

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what progress her Department has made on delivering fast and reliable broadband in Leeds North West constituency.

Julia Lopez: Thanks to our efforts to make it as easy and attractive as possible to deploy gigabit-capable networks, 86% premises in Leeds North West can access gigabit-capable broadband, which is up from just 15% in March 2019. This is expected to increase further as suppliers continue to extend their networks. Additionally, 98% of premises in Leeds North West have access to superfast broadband speeds (>=30 Mbps). These coverage increases have been achieved entirely through commercial investment at zero cost to the taxpayer.

Attorney General

Climate Change: Protest

Sir John Hayes: To ask the Attorney General, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the decision by some lawyers to not participate in the prosecution of climate activists on the functioning of the legal system.

Michael Tomlinson: The “cab rank rule” is an important principle which safeguards the rule of law and ensures fair access to justice. Action such as this undermines the independence of the legal profession and is fundamentally at odds with the idea that every person is entitled to a fair trial. The impact of this action on the Crown Prosecution Service will be negligible, not least because many of those “refusing” to prosecute are not in fact qualified to do so. The Crown Prosecution Service utilises a mix of in-house advocates and agent prosecutors alongside members of the self-employed Bar. This flexibility ensures access to a large pool of high-quality advocates and I am confident that these cases will be prosecuted without undue delay. Both the Bar Council and the Criminal Bar Association have issued robust responses here: The cab rank rule and legal representation (barcouncil.org.uk) and here: Chair’s Monday Message – 27.03.23 – Criminal Bar Association

Treasury

Taxation: Rebates

Beth Winter: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what progress his Department has made on establishing an HMRC registration process for repayment agents.

Beth Winter: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what progress his Department has made in establishing processes to strengthen the evidence required to demonstrate that (a) a tax repayment agent has been authorised by a customer and (b) a claim has been made with a customer’s consent before processing it.

Beth Winter: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what progress his Department has made on bringing forward legislative proposals to stop the use of legally binding assignments by repayment agents as part of claiming an Income Tax repayment.

Victoria Atkins: HMRC consulted last year on measures to ensure individual taxpayers get the information they need to make informed decisions about whether to use a repayment agent. ‘Raising standards in tax advice: Protecting customers claiming tax repayments’. The ‘Summary of Responses and Next Steps’ was published on 11 January 2023 which set out actions to improve transparency in the repayment agent market and protect customers. These include rendering void assignments of income tax repayments. As announced in the Budget, the Government has rendered void assignments of income tax repayments. This took effect from 15 March 2023.

VAT

Amy Callaghan: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, when he last reviewed the lists of products that are (a) zero-rated for VAT and (b) subject to VAT at five per cent.

Victoria Atkins: The Government keeps all taxes under review as part of the normal tax policy making cycle and Budget process.

Audiobooks: VAT

Steve McCabe: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent representations he has received on the fairness of the level of VAT on audiobooks.

Victoria Atkins: The Chancellor regularly receives representations from stakeholders across a range of issues and keeps all taxes under review. In common with many goods and services, audiobooks are taxed at the standard rate in both physical and digital format and there are no current plans to change that.

Car Allowances

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of Approved mileage rates.

James Cartlidge: As with all taxes, the AMAP rate is kept under review and any changes are considered and announced by the Chancellor.

Charities: EU Countries

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 23 March to Question 167062 on Charities: Foreign Companies, what other tax reliefs besides Gift Aid are claimed by the 25 EU-EEA charities, that give rise to the forecast revenue yield of (a) £5 million in 2024-25 and (b) £10 million per year from 2025-26 onwards, resulting from his proposed withdrawal of those reliefs from April 2024 onwards.

James Cartlidge: Additional tax reliefs, besides Gift Aid, that may be claimed can be found in the Finance Act 2010 at the following link: Finance Act 2010 (legislation.gov.uk)

Pensions: Tax Allowances

John McDonnell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the number of people who will benefit from the removal of the pensions lifetime allowance in 2023-24.

Andrew Griffith: Information on the abolition of the lifetime allowance can be found in the Pension Tax Limits Policy paper Pension Tax Limits - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Banks: Interest Rates

John McDonnell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he will take to ensure that banks pass on interest rate rises to savers, as well as to debtors.

Andrew Griffith: The pricing of financial products, including savings accounts and mortgages, is a commercial decision for firms and the Government does not seek to intervene in such decisions. The Bank of England’s independent Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) sets the base rate of interest, which is known as the Bank Rate, to achieve its primary objective of maintaining price stability. MPC decisions over Bank Rate guide commercial banks’ decisions over the retail interest rates they charge on loans and pay on deposits. More broadly, the Government is committed to ensuring people are supported to save, and that they can access a wide range of competitive savings products. The retail savings market currently offers a range of competitive options to savers, who can now access the highest rates in recent years on a variety of instant access and fixed-term products. I would encourage savers to explore the full range of products available in the market to find the best rates.

Help to Buy Scheme: Individual Savings Accounts

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to help people use their investment in a Help to Buy ISA in (a) Hampstead and Kilburn constituency and (b) other areas where average housing costs exceed £450,000.

Andrew Griffith: While the Government keeps all aspects of saving policy under review, the Help to Buy: ISA scheme is designed to support prospective first-time buyers who want to get onto the housing ladder, but who may struggle to raise a deposit to do so. As first-time buyers tend to buy smaller (and therefore cheaper) first properties, the Help to Buy: ISA’s property price cap of £450,000 within London therefore allows the Government to target support more precisely at the people the scheme is intended to help. Since its launch in 2015, the scheme has supported 531,507 property completions across the UK, including over 43,000 completions in London, with a mean property value of £176,828 through the scheme compared with an average first-time buyer house price of £245,350. Further information on the Government’s home purchase support schemes can be found at: https://www.ownyourhome.gov.uk

UK Trade with EU

Charlotte Nichols: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of tariffs placed on the UK’s trade with European countries on the UK's inflation rate.

Andrew Griffith: Since mid-2021, UK inflation has been pushed higher by global pressures, such as supply chain disruptions from Covid-19 and Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine. These pressures have in turn made it challenging to disaggregate the impact of EU Exit on the UK economy and households from these global pressures. In our view, there is not yet sufficient evidence to decisively conclude the wider impacts of EU Exit, including on inflation.

Individual Savings Accounts

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans to take steps to review the Lifetime ISA property value threshold against house prices in London.

Andrew Griffith: Data from the latest UK House Price Index demonstrates that the average price paid by first-time buyers in Outer London is below the Lifetime ISA property price cap at just under £417,000. In Inner London, the average price paid is affected by Boroughs with very high property values. The Office for Budget Responsibility is also forecasting for house prices to fall by 9% by 2024. In this context, the £450,000 price cap remains appropriate to support most first-time buyers across the UK while targeting households that may find it most difficult to get onto the property ladder. The Government keeps the operational aspects of the Lifetime ISA under review, as it does all aspects of the tax system, with any changes being announced at a fiscal event.

Small Businesses: Research

Holly Mumby-Croft: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 3.75 of the Spring Budget 2023, HC1183, published on 15 March 2023, what criteria small and medium enterprises will be required to meet to be considered R&D intensive.

Victoria Atkins: The Government is introducing additional tax relief for loss-making R&D intensive SMEs. A company is considered R&D intensive where its qualifying R&D expenditure is worth 40% or more of its total expenditure. This rate will apply to expenditure incurred from 1 April 2023. The Government has published a technical note outlining the eligibility criteria of this new scheme in more detail, which is available at:Technical note: Additional tax relief for Research and Development intensive small and medium enterprise - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Equipment: Capital Allowances

Holly Mumby-Croft: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the criteria are for plant and machinery to qualify for capital allowances full expensing.

Victoria Atkins: Full expensing is available for qualifying expenditure on main rate plant or machinery incurred on or after 1 April 2023, but before 1 April 2026. To qualify for full expensing, expenditure must be incurred by a company within the charge to corporation tax, the plant and machinery must be new and must not be bought to lease to someone else. Further information on gov.uk - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/full-expensing/spring-budget-2023-full-expensing. Full HMRC guidance will be published in due course.

Business: Taxation

Jim Shannon: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will hold discussions with the Secretary of State for Business and Trade on tax incentives for businesses with financial difficulties.

Victoria Atkins: The Chancellor of the Exchequer has regular discussions with the Secretary of State for Business and Trade on a range of issues, including on incentives for businesses.

Cabinet Office

National Science and Technology Council

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, on how many occasions the National Science and Technology Council has met since 25 October 2022.

Jeremy Quin: It is a long-established precedent that information about the discussions that have taken place in Cabinet and its Committees, and how often they have met, is not normally shared publicly.

Peters and Peters

Fleur Anderson: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the cost to the public purse has been of legal services provided by Peters and Peters for the Privileges Committee investigation of the Rt hon. Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip.

Jeremy Quin: I refer the Hon Member to PQ 111722. As set out in my previous answer, the Government has previously committed to setting out the final costs of the total legal support in relation to the Privileges Committee in due course after the conclusion of this matter.

Cybercrime

David Warburton: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to strengthen the UK’s response to cyber threats.

Jeremy Quin: Our National Cyber Strategy, launched in December 2021, sets out how we will ensure that the UK continues to be a leading, responsible and democratic cyber power, able to protect and promote our interests in the rapidly evolving online world. This includes our approach to making the UK more resilient to cyber attacks and countering cyber threats. It is supported by £2.6 billion of investment up to 2024 - 25.The UK will do what is necessary to protect ourselves through our world leading capability in this area. We are vigilant to cyber threats, wherever they come from, and ready to defend against them. We are continuing to work to make the UK more resilient to cyber threats and raise the cost for those who would do us harm.

Foreign Investment in UK: Bolton

Yasmin Qureshi: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make an estimate of the level of foreign direct investment into Bolton in the period since 2010.

Jeremy Quin: The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. A response to the Hon Lady’s Parliamentary Question of 27 March is attached. UKSA Response (pdf, 105.9KB)

Knives: Crime

Elliot Colburn: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of the number of robberies by knife-point in London in each of the last three years.

Jeremy Quin: The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. A response to the Hon. gentlemen’s Parliamentary Question of 22 March is attached ONS Response (pdf, 125.0KB)

Dominic Raab

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, when he plans to publish the results of the inquiry into allegations of bullying made against the Rt hon. Member for Esher and Walton.

Jeremy Quin: It would not be appropriate to comment on an ongoing independent investigation.As set out in the published Terms of Reference, the investigator will report to the Prime Minister on the investigation and the report of the investigation will be made public.

Dominic Raab

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the evidence gathering stage of the inquiry into allegations of bullying made against the Rt hon. Member for Esher and Walton has concluded.

Jeremy Quin: It would not be appropriate to comment on an ongoing independent investigation. As set out in the published Terms of Reference, the investigator will report to the Prime Minister on the investigation and the report of the investigation will be made public.

Civil Servants: Recruitment

Florence Eshalomi: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he plans to publish recruitment 2022 data for the civil service fast stream.

Jeremy Quin: The data will be published later this year.

Civil Servants: Recruitment

Florence Eshalomi: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what proportion of (a) white British and (b) Black or Black British - African applicants to the Civil Service Fast Stream in 2022 were recommended for appointment.

Jeremy Quin: Overall ethnic minority representation rose to the highest level on record, to 26.5% in 2022.Of applicants to the Civil Service Fast Stream in 2022 who were recommended for appointment (a) 66.4% were white British and (b) 2.7% were Black British - African.

Civil Servants: Recruitment

Florence Eshalomi: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what proportion of applicants from (a) a non-selective state-run or state-funded school and (b) an independent or fee-paying school who did not receive a bursary were recommended for appointment for the Civil Service Fast Stream in 2022.

Jeremy Quin: Fast Stream has been active in addressing diversity in respect to school representation. This relates to attraction and recruitment interventions including improved marketing, expanded internships and a revised selection methodology. Of applicants recommended for appointment for the Civil Service Fast Stream in 2022 (a) 54.7% were from a non-selective state-run or state-funded school and (b) 13.8% were from an independent or fee-paying school who did not receive a bursary. Other categories showed that appointment rates for selective state schools were at 26.5% and independent or fee-paying schools with a bursary were at 5.0%.

Civil Servants: Recruitment

Florence Eshalomi: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what proportion of applicants to the Civil Service Fast Stream in 2022 who were recommended for employment were (a) eligible for free school meals and (b) not eligible for free school meals.

Jeremy Quin: Of applicants to the Civil Service Fast Stream in 2022 who were recommended for employment, (a) 21.3% were eligible for free school meals and (b) 78.7% were not eligible for free school meals. Representation of those eligible for free school meals has increased in recent years. Successful Fast Stream applicants who were eligible for free school meals were 16.1% in 2021, 15.3% in 2020 and 13.1% in 2019.

Civil Servants: Recruitment

Florence Eshalomi: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what proportion of applicants with their home location in each NUTS 1 statistical region were recommended for employment for the Civil Service Fast Stream 2022.

Jeremy Quin: The Civil Service Fast Stream is the flagship graduate entry programme for the civil service, typically recruiting ~1,000 entrants each year across a range of professions to deliver a pipeline of talented future senior leaders for the Civil Service. It has been recognised as the number one graduate programme in the UK in the ‘Times Top 100 Graduate Employers’ list since 2019.The proportion of applicants with their home location in each NUTS 1 statistical region, that were recommended for employment for the Civil Service Fast Stream 2022, is shown here:NUTS 1 statistical regionPercentageNorth east (England)2.7%North west (England)9.4%Yorkshire and the Humber7.3%East midlands (England)5.0%West midlands (England)5.9%East of England9.1%London29.7%South East (England)14.9%South West (England)8.4%Scotland4.0%Wales2.3%NI, Channel Islands, and Isle of Man*0.4%Non-respondents0.7% * Combined due to small numbers Fast Stream has been active in developing a more regional focus in terms of the home locations of successful applicants, in particular through the use of a more diverse attraction strategy. Regional success rates have risen between 2021 and 2022.The government is committed to shifting the balance of SCS employment away from London through our successful Places for Growth strategy.

Department for Transport

Railway Stations: Access

Helen Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the Access for All programme; whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of reinstating that programme.

Huw Merriman: The Department continues to support and fund the Access for All programme. Since its inception in 2006, the programme has installed around £900m worth of accessible, step free routes at over 200 stations plus a range of smaller scale access improvements at around 1500 stations, across Britain. We are currently assessing over 300 station nominations in anticipation of a further round of funding beyond 2024.

Railways: Industrial Disputes

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will hold further discussions with rail operators and representatives to help prevent delays and cancellations to train services due to industrial action.

Huw Merriman: The Government welcomes the recent cancellation of strikes by the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) and the restart of discussions with the Rail Delivery Group on its fair and reasonable two-year pay offer. We urge RMT to allow its members to have a say, as they did for the Network Rail two-year offer. The Government has played its part in helping to facilitate and improve communication between the Unions and the rail industry. Where necessary, I will continue to facilitate open and constructive discussions to make progress and help the parties resolve the dispute.

Civil Aviation Authority: Powers

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department have reviewed the powers the Civil Aviation Authority has to enforce and strengthen regulations.

Jesse Norman: An independent review of the Civil Aviation Authority is currently in progress. The review will provide a detailed assessment of the effectiveness and efficiency of CAA’s functions and structures, its governance and its accountability to Parliament and the Department. This review was launched on 30 August 2022, and is due to be finalised in Spring 2023. As part of this process, the Department for Transport held a Call for Evidence on the effectiveness and efficiency of the CAA. This asked respondents to provide views on the strength and breadth of powers the CAA has. In addition, the Department for Transport consulted in January 2022 on whether the CAA should have additional administrative powers to enforce consumer laws. The Department are considering the responses across all proposals and will respond shortly.

Railways: Software

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many downloads there have been of the Railway Guardian app on (a) devices running iOS software, (b) devices running Android software and (c) devices running any other software.

Huw Merriman: As of 26 March 2023 there have been 29,076 downloads, 5184 of which on Android devices and 23,892 on iOs/Apple devices. This does not include the 3938 downloads from BTP officers and staff.

Department for Transport: Electronic Equipment

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has made an assessment of potential security risks resulting from the recent theft of a laptop from the Minister of State (Rail and HS2).

Jesse Norman: The Department has security protocols and procedures that are triggered in the event of one of its devices being stolen. This prevented the loss of any information stored on the devices. These procedures are kept under continuous review.

Motor Vehicles: Exhaust Emissions

Mr Ben Bradshaw: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department has taken to help ensure that emission fixes installed in vehicles are effective.

Mr Ben Bradshaw: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what information his Department holds on vehicles in the UK that have been identified as containing prohibited defeat devices since 2015.

Mr Ben Bradshaw: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department has taken to restrict the use of illegal emissions technology since 2015.

Mr Richard Holden: In 2016, the DVSA Market Surveillance Unit (MSU) was established to test vehicle emissions in the real world as well as in labs and investigate suspicious practice, significantly increasing oversight of vehicle emissions. The results of the MSU annual emissions-testing programme are made publicly available at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/dvsa-vehicle-market-surveillance-unit. Where MSU testing identifies non-compliant emissions, including suspicions of a prohibited defeat device, DVSA works with the manufacturer to implement improvement plans. Where action has been carried out this is explained within the published reports. The plan is monitored through regular updates from the manufacturer. To restrict the use of illegal emission technologies, the Government was at the forefront of the introduction at a European level of Real Driving Emissions (RDE) requirements for new cars and vans, which came into force in September 2017. This is an emissions test conducted on public roads using portable emissions measurement equipment, which due to its random nature makes it virtually impossible to ‘cheat’. Vehicles are checked to ensure they comply with RDE requirements through in-service testing by type approval authorities, market surveillance authorities and other third-party organisations, including NGOs. For vehicles type-approved by the Vehicle Certification Agency, the effectiveness of any ‘fixes’ installed is assessed before application. In 2018 the Government strengthened restrictions against the use of illegal emissions technology by passing legislation making it an offence for manufacturers to place motor vehicles on the market which contain prohibited defeat systems. The Government will also bring forward legislation to enable us to require vehicles to be recalled on environmental grounds, as well as exploring other means of strengthening enforcement.

Northern Transport Acceleration Council

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will publish (a) a list of current invitees to meetings of the Northern Transport Acceleration Council and (b) the number of meetings since 1 January 2022.

Huw Merriman: Since 1 January 2022 the Northern Transport Acceleration Council held one full plenary meeting on 23 May 2022, to discuss the UK Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Strategy. Core membership of NTAC consists of the transport ministers, northern metro mayors, the leaders of northern transport authorities, as well as the Chief Executives of Network Rail, Highways England and HS2 Ltd. and the chair of the NP11. Ministers are currently reviewing the format and structure of regular engagement in the north, including the role to be played by the Northern Transport Acceleration Council given its overlap with Transport for the North.

Euston Station: High Speed 2 Line

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 21 March 2023 to Question 163903 on Euston Station: High Speed 2 Line, how much from the public purse has been spent on HS2 works relating to Euston station as of 27 March 2023.

Huw Merriman: The most recent costs for Euston are as reported in the NAO report that was published on 27 March 2023, which are £548m on design and preliminary works and £1.5Bn on enabling works and land & property costs for the station and the surrounding area.

Roads: Safety

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he plans to publish (a) his response to the Reviewing personal safety measures on streets in England consultation launched in July 2021 and (b) the responses to that consultation received by his Department.

Mr Richard Holden: The results from this call for evidence are shaping the work to update Manual for Streets and Manual for Streets 2, which is currently underway. The Government intends to publish the consultation response at the same time as the revised Manual for Streets, later this year. The consultation response will summarise the feedback received and from what type of organisation.

Cycling and Walking: Finance

Gill Furniss: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much funding his Department has provided for (a) walking and (b) cycling in the (i) 2021-22 and (ii) 2022-23 financial year.

Jesse Norman: The table below summarises the amounts of dedicated funding for active travel provided by the Department for Transport in the current and previous financial year. It is not possible to provide separate totals for investment in walking schemes and investment in cycling schemes. The figures do not include the funding for active travel that comes from wider funding streams such as the City Region Sustainable Transport Settlements (CRSTS). The Department’s highways maintenance funding for local authorities provides further funding for roads and pavements and so also benefits cyclists and pedestrians. YearDedicated capital funding for active travel (£ million)Dedicated revenue funding for active travel (£ million)2021-22209702022-2320071

Motor Vehicles: Exhaust Emissions

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the number of (a) vehicles containing emissions defeat devices and (b) vehicle models containing emissions defeat devices in the UK.

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to obligations under Regulation (EU) 2018/858, how many vehicles have (a) been recalled for reasons related to emission levels and (b) had emissions-related fixes applied to them, in each year since 2015.

Mr Richard Holden: The DVSA Market Surveillance Unit (MSU) conducts an annual emissions-testing programme to test vehicle emissions in the real world. Where MSU testing identifies non-compliant emissions, including suspicions of a prohibited defeat device, DVSA works with the manufacturer to implement improvement plans. The results of the MSU annual emissions-testing programme are made publicly available at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/dvsa-vehicle-market-surveillance-unit. Since 2015, there have been 134 manufacturer recalls or non-code actions involving a total of 1.85 million vehicles to amend or upgrade emissions systems. Not all action will have been to address non-compliance. A breakdown of the models by year is as follows: YearTotal vehicles within scope20151,197,34020168,31120177,649201874,6602019186,2012020114,1422021263,02720222,31020234,386

Taxis: CCTV

Daniel Zeichner: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many licensing authorities have introduced mandatory CCTV in (a) taxis and (b) private hire vehicles.

Mr Richard Holden: As of 31 March 2022, 15 authorities had a requirement for all licensed taxis to have CCTV fitted and 14 had a requirement for all licensed PHVs to have CCTV fitted.

House of Commons Commission

Parliamentary Estate: Heating

John Spellar: To ask the hon. Member for Broxbourne, representing the House of Commons Commission, whether the Commission is taking steps to help reduce the level of gas used for heating on the Parliamentary estate.

Sir Charles Walker: The parliamentary estate is largely heated by burning natural gas in boilers.The Restoration and Renewal (R&R) Programme will consider the energy source options for the Palace of Westminster in the long run. Under the Parliamentary Buildings (Restoration and Renewal Act) 2019, the Corporate Officers of the Houses have a statutory duty to have regard to the need to protect the environment and to contribute to achieving sustainable development in exercising their functions. Before R&R commences a number of small projects have been completed to reduce natural gas consumption, including the replacement of steam boilers with more efficient condensing gas boilers for hot water and providing localised heating sources in some areas using air source heat pumps and local electric boilers.A portfolio of projects known as the Commons Building and Infrastructure Portfolio (CBIP) is undertaking feasibility work for the majority of the remaining buildings on the Parliamentary Estate. This work is evaluating the use of electrically powered heat pumps to heat the buildings with natural gas boilers provided as an extra form of resilience.

Department for Culture, Media and Sport

BBC: Finance

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether it remains her Department's policy to conduct a review on the future funding of the BBC.

Julia Lopez: The Government is committed to the licence fee for the rest of the current Charter. However, the BBC's funding model faces major challenges due to changes in the way people consume media. It is therefore necessary to look at ways to ensure the BBC’s funding model is sustainable in the long-term.The Government wants to see the BBC continue to succeed, which is why we need to consider the most fair and appropriate funding mechanism to be introduced at the end of the current Charter period.The Department is considering all possible future funding options to ensure the BBC’s long-term sustainability in a rapidly changing, digital world.

Leisure: Facilities

Sarah Owen: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what the process will be for (a) applications to and (b) allocations of funding for support for leisure centres.

Stuart Andrew: We recognise the importance of ensuring public access to swimming pools, as swimming is a great way for people of all ages to stay fit and healthy. The responsibility of providing this access lies at Local Authority level, and the Government continues to encourage Local Authorities to support swimming facilities.At the Budget, we announced a dedicated £63 million support package for swimming pools, which is targeted at addressing cost pressures facing public swimming pool providers. It will also help provide investment in energy efficiency measures to reduce future operating costs and make facilities sustainable in the long-term.Details of the eligibility process will be published shortly, however, this fund will focus on those public swimming pool providers whose cost pressures are most acute, leaving them most vulnerable to closure. The Government intends for community and charitable trusts to be eligible to receive this funding. Sport England will manage a competitive application process and set out further detail on eligibility shortly.

BBC: Music

Dr Rupa Huq: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she has had recent discussions with the BBC on funding for BBC Orchestras and Singers.

Julia Lopez: Operational and editorial decisions are independent of Government and are a matter for the BBC.I met the BBC on 22 March to discuss a range of issues.The BBC announced on 24 March that it will suspend the proposal to close the BBC Singers, and will continue to engage with the Musicians' Union and the other BBC Unions about its proposals regarding the BBC's English Orchestras.